One step forward, two steps back
by Axis29
Summary: It's almost Christmas and Nishikata is trying his hardest to find a chance to give Takagi the present he got for her, without first revealing the fact that he's in love with her. Though just as it seems the perfect opportunity appears, something happens to make it significantly less perfect. Can Nishikata find the perfect chance to give Takagi her present, and make her his girlfrie
1. Snow ball fight

**So here is the start of a new story. I have been planning, and working on this one for a while so here's to hoping you all like it.**

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Takagi was making her way down the hall on her way out of school for the day, looking out the window at every opportunity. It had snowed for the past few days so there was a lot of white on the ground which somehow made her feel at ease. "If there's one good thing about the cold, it's that it's perfect weather for cuddling."

She continued her way down the hall until she ran into one of her friends, Sumire Takagawa, looking out the window. "Oh hey Takagi." She greeted.

"Good morning." Takagi greeted back, as they began making their way to class.

"So, excited for the holidays?"

"You bet, I've actually finished most of my Christmas shopping quite some time ago."

"Most?"

"Yeah, I need to finish making Nishikata's present, it's taking a bit longer than I initially thought it would."

"Well, I wish you luck with that." Sumire replied. "Hey, mind if I ask you something?"

"About Nishikata?"

"Yeah, um, why don't you just ask him out already? I mean you said that he has feelings for you so it's not like he'll say no."

"Well, it's because he probably hasn't exactly realized it yet."

"Well surely you can still ask him and just play it off as a contest or ... I don't know, say, you want to try it because everyone in the school thinks the two of you are already dating."

Takagi laughed. "He would try and avoid the second one at all costs, but even if I did ask him ... well ... I kinda want him to be the one to say it, also I don't want to push things any more than I already am."

"More than you already are?"

"I mean I don't want to do anything more than dropping hints of us as a couple, or getting him into romantic situations."

"Yeah, um ... about that." She sighed and turned to Takagi. "I ... need a favor."

Elsewhere, Nishikata, Hamaguchi, Takao, and Kimura were also walking down the hall on their way out of the school. "So I've been thinking, and I believe that the best thing to get her would be a necklace." Hamaguchi began. "That seems like it would be a mature present, right?"

"If you can afford it." Takao joked. "Last I checked, those things can cost nearly eleven thousand yen."

"I've been saving up, I should have enough. The only question is, what kind of necklace?" He turned to Nishikata, who looked as if he wasn't paying much attention. "What do you think Nishikata?"

"Huh?" Nishikata asked as he turned to his friend.

"I said, do you think getting Houjou a necklace is a good idea?"

"Oh, I don't really know."

"Of course you don't"

"You know, I've never really understood the whole, having to get someone you care about something expensive to show how much you care, thing." Kimura began. "If you ask me, just get something that'll make them smile, it doesn't matter how much it costs."

"I wouldn't expect you to understand Kimura." Hamaguchi began. "You've never had to get something for a girl outside your family before." Hamaguchi looked back at him, yet he didn't say a word. "Why are you so silent?"

"Oh, that's because I actually am getting something for a girl this year."

Everyone stopped and turned to look at him. "Are you joking?!" Takao snapped.

"You of all people?" Hamaguchi asked.

"Easy there!" Kimura said as he backed up holding his hands up in defense. "It's not like I'm in love with her or anything. I mean she's cute, yes, but we've only talked a few times, and we've barely hung out."

"I THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING TO BE SINGLE TILL YOU WERE IN HIGHSCHOOL!" Takao exclaimed.

"HEY!" Nishikata exclaimed as he stepped between Kimura and his other friends. "How about we let him finish?"

The other two backed off a bit and Kimura breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you Nishikata. As I was saying, we hung out by complete coincidence really; you guys were busy, her friends were busy, we met in the lunch line when they were short on something we both like, so we decided to split one. Now we talk every now and then, and I decided to get her something for Christmas."

"Okay, who?" Hamaguchi asked.

"Mina Hibino." There was an awkward silence as the others took a moment to let it sink in. "Like I said, we're not in love or dating or anything, just that I got her some sweets for Christmas."

"Well ,my relationship with Houjou is further along than your relationship with Mina."

"We're not necessarily in a relationship."

"Well I still need to get Houjou something that shows how much I like her, that's why I want to get her a necklace." He turned to Nishikata. "By the way, what are you getting Takagi?"

"Getting ... WHAT?!" He took a step back. "I ... we're ... there's nothing going on between me and Takagi!"

"So you're not getting her something?" Kimura asked. "Aren't you two like ... close friends or something?"

Nishikata froze. "I ... well ... no." He turned away. "I haven't gotten her anything yet."

"You should probably get on that." They continued walking until they got to the entrance where they parted ways.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow." Hamaguchi said before leaving the rest of them.

"Yeah, same here." Takao replied as he and Kimura did the same, leaving Nishikata alone.

Nishikata began making his way around the nearest corner of the school and paused to make sure no one was around. "Okay, no one's here." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a necklace with a metal heart shaped pendant which had 'Takagi' engraved on it. "This was a bad idea. Even if it was a good price, how am I supposed to give this to her without it looking like some form of romantic gestures?" He shoved it back into his pocket and looked off to the side. "Well ... I guess ... it's kinda supposed to be a romantic gesture." He shook his head and began looking around again. _'And if she doesn't like it, then her laughing at me is the best thing I can hope for.'_

"Hey Nishikata." Takagi greeted from right next to him, causing him to jump. "What are you doing here?"

Nishikata turned to look at her and felt his heart go into overdrive. _'Damn it Takagi, why did it have to be someone who can practically read my mind?' _"Oh ... nothing ... just ... hanging."

"Hm?" She said as she tilted her head and looked at him quizzically. "Are you hiding something from me?"

"What kind of question is that? Even if I am hiding something, I'm obviously going to say that I'm not."

"Then why didn't you?" She asked as she leaned closer to him. He began to lean back, but part of him didn't want to, as a result, their faces were mere centimeters apart, and Nishikata had to resist the urge to kiss her.

_'Damn, what do I do? Her eyes are just so hypnotizing! How do I get out of this?' _He took a deep breath and steadied himself. _'It keeps getting worse ... I have to tell her before it becomes too obvious and she ends up finding out herself. Maybe I should ...' _"Taka-" Takagi burst into laughter before Nishikata could even finish the first word.

"Your face is so red Nishikata, do you like me or something?"

_'She knows!? No, she's made jokes like this all the time, she's just playing around.'_

"I mean if you do, then this is the perfect spot." She began walking her fingers up his arm. "It's quiet, no one can see us, and I hear couples come here to make out all the time."

"Make ... out?" Nishikata asked as his face turned redder. _'No, no no no no no no no, I can't do this right now.' _"It doesn't ... look like that great of a spot. And besides, I was here before you." He began walking away as his heart managed to ease up a little.

"I guess." She said as she caught up to him. "So, do you wanna walk home together?"

"Uh ... sure."

They fetched Takagi's bike and began their walk home together in relative silence. _'That was too close.' _Nishikata thought to himself. _'If she had found out about what I got her, then that would have completely ruined the surprise.' _He paused. _'Let's push all that aside for now, I need to find a way to one up her, but how?'_

"Hey Nishikata, wanna have a contest?"

"A contest?" Nishikata asked. "Well, you know me, I'm always in the mood for a contest. Do I take it our normal rules apply?"

"You mean the winner gets to have the looser do anything they want? I was thinking something a bit more ... interesting."

"How can you get more interesting than literally anything?"

"Is it really though?" She asked. "It's always something, maybe mildly embarrassing or inconvenient, I was thinking that for this one, we take some of those unspoken restrictions off."

"Uh ..." _'I mean I've never actually won so ... it has always been her setting those restrictions ... though I should keep that in mind going forward for when I eventually beat her.' _"Okay, but ... can we keep in some form of reason?"

"You afraid that I'll have you do something super embarrassing?" She asked with a sly smile.

"No, I mean ... nothing dangerous and things like that."

"Sure, I wasn't going to ask for anything like that anyway."

"So what's the game?"

"Simple." She stopped walking, reached down, and rolled up a snowball. "A snowball fight."

"Snowball fight?"

"Yup, first to three hits wins."

"Okay." _'This is perfect!' _Nishikata thought with a smile. _'I'm great at throwing, and I'm fairly agile as well, sure Takagi might be more agile than me, but there's no way she can beat me without using any tricks. I just need to keep my guard up this time.' _"So where should we do this?"

"Same place as always, the abandoned lot."

"Alright then, let's do this."

The two made their way to the abandoned lot, where they stood across from each other. "Are you ready?" Nishikata asked.

"Yup, and I have just the thing in mind for you when I win."

"Uh ..." Nishikata nervously took a step back. "Wha-what do you mean by that?"

"I actually have two things in mind ... I'll let you take your pick."

_'TAKAGI! You haven't won yet, and when I win, I'll get you to finally stop teasing me.' _He paused as he began to rethink his choice. _'Then again, she does love teasing me ... and I don't want her to never talk to me again ... maybe I'll just have her stop for a week, that seems reasonable.'_

"Okay then!" She began with her hands behind her back. "Ready ... Set ... GO!"

Nishikata reached for the ground as he began to ball up a snowball only to have something hit the top of his back. "Huh?" Nishikata said as he looked up to see Takagi's smiling face. "There's no way you could have made a snowball that quickly!"

"It's the one I made from when I proposed the challenge."

Nishikata scowled and shook it off. "That's only one!" He finished making his snowball and began running to the side as Takagi did the same. _'I just have to get her three time.' _He thought as he readied himself. He slowed to a stop, then took aim before throwing the snowball, which careened through the air, only barely missing Takagi.

"Close one." Takagi said before throwing hers; it was slow, and wasn't difficult to dodge, something that Nishikata quickly took note of.

_'She's trying to make me over confident again like when we arm wrestled. That's not going to work this time though!' _He readied another snowball, this time, breaking it into two smaller snowballs before strafing again. "Take this!" He threw the first snowball which missed, but as she dodged, he threw the second which scored a direct hit on her shoulder. "That's one-to-one!"

"So far!" Takagi said before balling up another one.

Nishikata quickly jumped behind the nearby oil drums and began balling up a few more. _'No rule against using cover, and this is the only thing in this area that can be used as cover, so I have the advantage.' _He peeked over the top, then quickly ducked back down as Takagi threw another at him. _'Not going to get me that easy.' _He glanced upward and took notice of another coming from above. _'I see what's going on.' _He jumped out from behind his cover and threw another snowball which nailed her arm, as he aptly avoided the second one Takagi threw at him. _'I'm invincible.' _He began rolling up some more, but after another came flying in his direction, he was forced to leap back behind the drums to avoid it. _'Okay, just one more, even if I get hit once, I should still win.'_

He rolled up another snowball and stood up, only to find Takagi standing right in front of the drums, leaning forward so much that if he was a centimeter closer, they would be kissing. "Taka-" He began to lean back as the snowball slipped from his hand.

"You know." She began. "We always come here for our contests, it's kinda like our special place or something."

Nishikata felt his mouth dry up as he struggled to find the words, or thoughts, to deal with this situation. As he did though, Takagi gently smashed two snowballs against both sides of his head and smiled. "Looks like I win."

Nishikata fell to his knees in defeat. "I ..."

"I never said that they had to be thrown." She began. "It was obvious that you would try and use the oil drums for cover, it made it easy for me to get closer."

"I lost." He mumbled.

"And to the victor goes the spoils." She looked down and gave him a mischievous smile. "You remember, right?"

"Anything." He said as he stood back up. _'Crap, she made a point to emphasize that it was going to be worse than any of the other things she's had me do ... what is she thinking?'_

"So like I said, I have two things in mind, and you can take your pick."

_'So I just have to pick the one that's less embarrassing.' _He thought.

"The first thing, is that you have to go on a date with me."

Nishikata's heart stopped as his face reddened. "I ... WHAT?!"

"This Saturday, to the mall, and you have to post a picture on your social media."

"I have to do what now?"

"However, you don't have to hold my hand or pay for anything that isn't directly for you. You can't deny that it's a date, and if anyone asks, you have to tell them that it is, in fact, a date. Though you don't have to say that you and I are a couple ... you know, because we arn't."

"So what? Should I just announce it to the entire school?"

"No, I decided against that."

"Gee, thanks."

"As for your second option ..."

Nishikata sighed. _'There's no way it can be any worse than going on a date with her and basically letting the whole school know.'_

She walked around the drums and leaned close to him again. "You have to kiss me."

Nishikata's blush spread to his ears as his legs refused to move. "I have to ..." His mouth dried up as his brain stopped working.

"Kiss me, right here, right now, on the lips." She smiled with her eyes closed. "However, I won't tell anyone, I won't talk about it with anyone, other than you because you would already know, but I won't bring it up in front of anyone who wouldn't already know." Nishikata's throat went even dryer as he tried to get his mind working again. "So basically, you can choose to do something you might call embarrassing in front of a lot of people, or you could do something that you would think is drastically more embarrassing, but no one would know unless you tell them."

'_I can't kiss her.' _He thought to himself. _'I can't ... I can't do it, I like her but, to straight up kiss her?' _"I don't really have much of a choice here, do I?"

"You do, but I kinda figured that you would pick the date anyway."

"Wait, what?"

"I know just the dress to wear, I think it's adorable and I'm sure everyone else will think so as well."

_'But if I go on a date with her, then I might not be able to hide the fact that I'm in love with her.'_

"I know I'm kinda forcing you, but the more I think about it, the more excited I'm getting."

_'No.' _He looked down at her lips and tried to ready himself as every dissenting thought ceased._ 'She ... said no one would ever find out ... and she said that I could ... this choice really is clear.'_

"Actually, there is one other thing you should know about it." Takagi began, unaware that Nishikata was moving towards her.

He cupped her cheeks in his hands, causing her to freeze up. "Like I said, I don't really have much of a choice."

Her eyes went wide as she began to blush, all the while Nishikata had his eyes focused on hers. "No one will ever know, right?" He tightly closed his eyes, and brought his lips to meet hers.


	2. More problems than solutions

**And here comes the next chapter of this amazing story. And when I say amazing, I mean it's taken me a damn long time to write and I really hope you all enjoy it.**

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Takagi's mind was racing as her lips were pressed against Nishikata's. _'He's kissing me, he's actually kissing me! This wasn't supposed to go like this, did I read him wrong? No, how did I read him wrong? Did he realize that he likes me? Wait, he's kissing me!'_

Nishikata soon separated from her, as both of their hearts continued racing. "So … you said no one would find out about it?"

"Huh?"

"You said that no one would ever find out about the kiss."

"Oh, right." She nodded as she regained her train of thought. "That's right, that's right, I won't tell anyone." She turned around and covered her mouth and nose with her hands. "I …" She turned back to face him. "Nishikata … I honestly didn't expect that."

"Yeah, well … if no one ever finds out, then it's the same as it never happening, right?"

She felt her heart sink upon hearing his words. _'Like it never actually happened.' _"Only if you don't tell anyone."

"Right."

They both stood there for a few minutes until they walked back to the street. "So, I guess … this kinda counts as a win for you."

"Huh?"

"My first kiss and I can't tell anyone about it … that's going to be bothersome. Also, you caught me off guard by choosing something I didn't think you would do."

"That's not a win." He began. "I can't accept a win like that."

"Oh, okay." They continued walking in complete silence.

_'This isn't good.' _Takagi thought as she finally noticed the tingling in her lips. _'I mean it's good that I got to kiss Nishikata … but … my plan backfired.'_

_Flashback_

"I … need a favor." Sumire said as she stood in front of Takagi. "You see, there's a boy in class that I like-"

"You mean the boy with the short spiky black hair?"

"How … nevermind. I … would like it if you could help me set up a double date."

"Wait, really?"

"Yeah, I've almost never talked to him and … I figured that seeing as he's one of Nishikata's friends, you could possibly …"

"I think I can work something out."

"Really?" She asked hopefully. "That would be amazing!"

"I might need to tell Nishikata what's going on because he would need to be the one to specifically get him to go."

"He … can he keep it a secret?"

"He won't have a choice when I beat him again."

_End flashback_

_'Sumire's not going to like this … but what am I supposed to tell her? I didn't think teasing him a little would backfire like this, what am I supposed to do now?' _She placed a hand on her lips and smiled. _'But … he did kiss me ... I wonder if things are going to change.'_

They continued walking in silence as Nishikata and Takagi both had a lot on their mind. _'I actually did it.' _Nishikata thought to himself. _'I actually kissed her … I might actually be able to do the whole dating thing after all.' _He glanced over to Takagi, but his feeling of nervousness was replaced by one of curiosity when he saw her face; she looked a little nervous, and if Nishikata didn't know any better, he would say she looked like she was trying not to blush. _'Wait … why is she … is she blushing?' _He shook his head and looked back in front of him. _'No, It's probably because I can't think straight right now, she can't be nervous about something like a kiss, she jokes about it all the time.'_

They continued in silence until they separated, only giving each other a quick goodbye before returning home.

_'I still can't believe I kissed Takagi.' _Nishikata thought as he continued his way home. _'I …' _He smiled triumphantly and shot his fist into the air. _'I can't believe I managed to finally work up the courage to kiss her! Even if it was a punishment, progress is still progress! Now all I need to do is-' _He pulled the necklace out of his pocket and looked at it. "Give her this."

He shoved it back into his pocket. "Yeah right, as if I could do that."

Nishikata reached his house and opened the door to see his mom in the kitchen making dinner. "Good afternoon." She greeted as she turned to look at him.

"Afternoon mom." Nishikata replied.

"So, did you give Takagi her present yet?" She asked as she turned back to what she was doing.

"Not yet." Nishikata began. "Today was … not the best day."

"How so?"

"Well …" He walked into the kitchen and sat down. "I … lost a contest to her."

"What else is new?"

"It … made for not the best time."

She turned back to the counter and shook her head. "Just make sure you find a chance to give her that necklace before Christmas, you spent a lot of your allowance on that."

"I know." He got up and proceeded to head upstairs. "I'm gonna get started on my homework."

Nishikata went upstairs and threw himself onto his bed. "Takagi …" He closed his eyes and began to picture her. "If you ever found out that you had my heart in the palm of your hands, then I can kiss any hope of beating you goodbye."

Meanwhile, Takagi was also sitting in her room thinking about what had recently transpired. "We kissed … we actually kissed … how did this surprise me?" She sighed. "Maybe he has realized that he likes me, if that's the case, I'm going to have to drastically rethink my approach."

At that moment, her phone began to ring, showing Sumire in the collar ID. "Oh, this isn't going to end well." She answered it and put it up to her ear. "Hello?"

"Hey Takagi, how did it go?"

_'Here we go.' _"Well, things … didn't go as I thought they would."

"Wait, what? Did you … lose?"

"Not exactly." _'I can't tell her about the kiss, I promised Nishikata.' _"My bad habit kinda … backfired, so I'm going to need to try a different approach."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I'd … rather not say. But I haven't given up, I've just hit a minor roadblock. I'll still manage to get that date for both of us."

"Well, okay, thank you again."

"No problem, what are friends for?"

"You're the best, I'll see you tomorrow, I need to study."

"Okay, by."

She hung up and looked at her phone. "Now how am I going to get Nishikata to help? … maybe … I'm overthinking this."


	3. The plan

**New chapter is ready, but a quick note is needed. I will be on vacation next week, as such, I won't be able to post any chapters on this site till the week after. I plan to have a few set up over on Wattpad, but I can't really do the same here.**

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It was the following day, and Nishikata was at school and had just finished changing his shoes. '_Maybe I should have just picked the date.' _He thought to himself. '_It would have made it easier to give her the present.'_

He closed the locker and jumped back as he noticed Takagi standing there. "Hi Nishikata." She greeted. "Good morning."

"Oh, good morning." He turned away as a blush formed on his face. '_I totally kissed her yesterday.'_

"Nishikata?" She asked as she moved around to get a better look at him. "Are you okay?"

"Oh, I'm fine, nothing's wrong."

"Hmm?" She gave a sly smile. "Are you sure? Because it looks like you're still embarrassed by one little … you know what."

"Well of course I'm embarrassed, it's not exactly something friends do."

"Oh? If I didn't know any better, I'd say you had a crush on me."

Nishikata's face turned even redder. '_No, I need to be the one to tell her! I can't let her find out on her own … but … is she just teasing me or does she really think I have a crush on her?'_

"Good thing you're easy to read." She added as she gave him a closed eyed smile.

Nishikata glanced back at her, as he began to feel at ease. '_That was too close … but I'm going to have to tell her sooner or later.'_

"Then again-" She glanced over with a smile. "From how you- no." She closed her eyes and shook her head. "I intended for that to remain a secret, I can't tease you because of it."

"Huh?" Nishikata said as he began to feel more at ease. "I mean, all you said was that you wouldn't tell anyone who didn't already know."

"Yeah, but the intent was only for a momentary source of extreme embarrassment, not something lasting." She paused for a moment. "And on that note, I need to ask a favor."

"Huh? You don't usually ask for favors from me."

"Yeah, well, this is actually for a friend of mine."

"Okay, let's hear it."

"Well, a friend of mine likes a boy in our class and wants to hang out with him, the problem is, she doesn't really have a chance to get to know him. Thing is, you're friends with him, so she asked me if I could set up a friendly double date."

"A double … date?" Nishikata felt his face begin to warm up. "Wait, are you trying to say-"

"That I was going to trick you into doing just that this Saturday after beating you in a snowball fight? Yeah, that's more or less the case."

Nishikata let out an annoyed sigh. "You know you could have just said that I had to take you on a date instead of giving me a choice or, I don't know, just ASK!"

"Yes, but then I wouldn't have been able to tease you while doing it."

"Seriously?"

"Yup, like I said, I have a major weakness where I can't help but tease you Nishikata."

Nishikata sighed and looked away. "Well, I've already chosen and took my pri-" He nearly choked himself as he tried to stop himself from saying the wrong thing. "Penalty, so I don't _have _to help."

"I'll owe you a favor."

'_A favor?' _Nishikata thought about it for a moment before giving her a response. "Okay, I've got something, how about, the next time you need my help for a friend, you just ask, instead of trying to trick me?"

"I can do that … I think."

"You think?" He shook his head. "Also, don't try and make this as embarrassing as possible, okay?"

"I can do that too."

"You think?"

"I think."

"Of course. Now … which friend and who do they want to spend time with"

Takagi leaned closer and whispered into Nishikata's ear. "Sumire Takagawa, and the guy she wants to spend time with is Cozzy."

"Really?" Nishikata asked. "I think I might have an idea."

"That's wonderful! Anything I should do?"

"I need to think up an excuse first, but I'll tell you after."

"Great, Sumire and I can't wait."

They continued their walk to class in silence as Nishikata began thinking. '_So aside from earlier, it looks like she isn't bothered by the kiss in the slightest. Does that mean it really didn't mean anything to her? Or maybe she's really good at hiding it.' _He looked ahead as they reached the classroom. '_In any event, I have other things that I need to take care of.' _They walked into class and took their seats as Nishikata began thinking up a plan.

The day went on and Nishikata continued thinking up a plan; cornering him wasn't necessary, as the boy in question would occasionally hang around Nishikata and his friends, not to mention, he had his contact info and could simply text. It was almost lunchtime at this point, and it was the perfect opportunity.

"Okay." Nishikata said to himself as he pulled out his phone. "Let's do this." He said as he began typing.

**Nishikata: **Hey, Cozzy, you still looking for something to do this Saturday? I need a favor.

Nishikata was about to put his phone away when he got a reply, which was much faster than he expected.

**Cozzy: **Anything to get out of the house, what do you need?

Nishikata breathed a sigh of relief. "So far so good."

**Nishikata: **I sorta lost a bet with Takagi, which was supposed to result in me hanging out with her this Saturday, but I said I already had other plans with another friend, she asked if she could bring a friend and tag along and I just said yes without thinking things through. Now I need someone who I originally had plans with Saturday to come along, or she'll use the opportunity to really embarrassed me.

**Cozzy: **Sure thing. Which friend is she bringing?

**Nishikata: **I think she said her name was Sumire Takagawa.

His response was a little delayed.

**Cozzy: **Dude, are you serious? What time and where should I be?

**Nishikata: **I … was thinking noon and Takagi asked for the mall.

**Cozzy: **This Saturday? Did she want to go see that new romance movie with you?

Nishikata blushed as he stared at his phone, feeling a little confused. "Romance movie? What is he talking about?"

**Cozzy: **If we do see that, I will pay you anything if you can arrange for me to sit next to Takagawa.

His subsequent text came almost instantly.

**Cozzy: **Without telling her of course.

**Nishikata: **Well I'll see what I can do, no promises though. I don't even know if she wanted to see a movie. In any event, let's meet up at the mall food court.

**Cozzy: **Okay, see ya then.

Nishikata put away his phone and shrugged. "Looks like he's got a crush on her, that's going to make this a little easier."

"What's going to make it easier?" Came Takagi's voice from directly behind him.

"Takagi!" He jumped back, surprised to see his crush sneaking up behind him. "What … what are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see if you made any progress, I'm guessing you did?"

"Yeah, he said he was actually looking for a reason to get out of the house this Saturday."

"That's good, so what exactly did you tell him?"

"That I lost a contest to you and had to spend this Saturday with you, but I told you that I already had plans with someone, then you asked if you and one of your friends could tag along and I just said yes, so I needed someone to come with me."

"Sounds wonderful, I bet Sumire will be glad to hear that."

"Yeah, but … question, did you know anything about a movie that comes out this Saturday?"

She gave him a guilty smile. "Yeah, it's supposed to be a big romance movie."

"Was it part of your plan?"

"It was for Sumire's sake, but-" She leaned in closer to him, causing him to stumble back slightly. "If you want, you and I could try and get a seat away from them."

Nishikata felt his heart jump into his throat. '_Takagi and I? Alone? During a romance movie? Wait, does that mean-'_

"It would really help Sumire."

"Oh … um … how would I explain that exactly?"

"Fair enough." She backed off for a moment, then stood next to him. "So, you wanna eat together?"

"Huh?"

"Oh, come on, it'll be fun." Takagi grande Nishikata's hand and began dragging him to the school yard.

'_This is going to be a very long lunch period.'_


	4. Double date start

**I have a lot that I need to do over the next few days so lets just get right into it.**

**Sir Sleeps-a-lot: Thank you for your reviews, really. Also, I wish I could get more sleep nowadays.**

* * *

The rest of the week had flown by; it was now Saturday and Nishikata was outside the candy store waiting for Takagi and Takagawa. "We're just hanging out, there's nothing romantic happening today, we have other friends who are going to be there, we're not even going to be alone while on our way there."

"Did I keep you waiting?" Came Takagi as she approached.

Nishikata glanced over to see only Takagi and felt his heart jump. "Hey, I thought you and Takagawa were going to come together?"

"She said that she'll meet us there."

"Oh, okay ... should we-"

"Let's." She walked over and held up a hand. "Want to hold hands till we get there?"

"I-" Nishikata felt his hands tremble. _'Come on Nishikata, you've held her hand before ... wait, if you do that without any reservations, then she might find out that you love her.' _"I mean it doesn't really matter to me." She outstretched her arm more and Nishikata felt like his heart was about to explode. _'Okay, let's do this.' _He slowly reached out his hand and took hers, as they each closed their fingers around the back of the other's hand. _'Her hand is so soft.' _He thought to himself. _'Man, I wish it was this easy every day.' _As he glanced at her, he noticed that her expression went from playful, to surprised. _'What?'_

"Uh, yeah, let's go." She quickly turned and the two of them began walking.

They walked together in silence until they reached the mall where they stopped for a moment. "So." Nishikata began. "I guess ... we have to let go of each other's hand now?"

"We could." She smiled and slowly turned to look at him. "Or we could always just ... tell them that we're a couple."

Nishikata's heart began to race as he struggled to form words. _'Joke back, say 'well, maybe we should' or something! No, too much time has passed, she'll know that I'm actually into her.' _"Please ... aren't we here to help your friend with her relationship issues?"

"Wait a second, why didn't that sound like a 'no'?" Takagi asked.

"I don't know why it didn't sound like one, but it was definitely a no."

Takagi stared at him curious for a moment before letting go of his hand. "If you say so."

She began going inside as Nishikata lagged behind slightly. _'Yeah, it was definitely a no, as in, no, I don't want to stop holding hands.' _He shook his head and caught up to her. "So, remember, this isn't a date, or a double date."

"I know, and I told Sumire as well."

"Good." _'Now all I need to do is find a way to get Sumire and Cozzy to have seats by themselves when we get to the movie.' _He turned to the girl next to him and blushed. _'Which means I'll be sitting alone with Takagi.' _He turned back to see where he was going. _'I can do that, and besides, it's a byproduct, even though I want to sit with her.' _He glanced back at then shook his head. _'Sometimes it's hard for me to believe that I was so in denial sometimes.'_

They soon reached the food court and instantly bumped into Takagawa, who was looking for them. "Takagi, Nishikata!" She greeted as she walked up to them. "You made it!"

"Of course we did." Takagi replied. "Did you think we wouldn't?"

"No, I ... just got here a little early ... and so did Cozzy."

"Wait." Nishikata began. "Is that good or bad?"

"It's ... not horrible." Takagawa explained. "But ... I don't know what to do when we're alone, so I just ... said I'd go look for you two."

"Well then, let's go meet back up then." Takagi began moving as the others followed, and they soon found their way to where Cozzy was sitting.

"Hey guys." He greeted as they noticed him. "Come on and sit down." They all took a seat around the table. "So, um, what exactly was the plan for today?"

"We're going to eat a quick lunch, then watch a movie." Takagi explained. "Isn't that right?" She asked as she glanced over at Nishikata.

"Yeah, that's right." Nishikata said trying to sound nervous.

"Yeah, I know that much, but what movie?"

There was silence as Takagi and Takagawa smiled at each other, nothing was spoken, but it was all too clear what was going on. "So ..." Cozzy began. "Shall we ... get started then?"

"Good idea." The four of them got up and began making their way to different parts of the food court, with Nishikata and Cozzy sticking together.

"You think you could have gotten here a tad earlier?" He asked.

"Why's that?"

"Cause I was alone with Takagawa, and I have no idea how I was supposed to handle a situation like that." He sighed as they got in line. "How exactly do you handle being alone with Takagi so often?"

"I-" He paused and looked around. _'Should I actually tell him? Well, I do have collateral with knowing his crush, it's only fair.' _"You promise you won't tell anyone?"

"Yeah, just tell me your secret."

"My secret, is not realizing I was in love with her until I was already comfortable being around her."

Cozzy was dumbstruck for a moment. "Wait, what?"

"I had no idea I had feelings for her for the longest time, I guess I've known for maybe a few weeks, maybe a month or two at most."

"You're no help."

"You think it's all easy for me? She's always one step ahead of me, making surprising her almost impossible."

"What makes you think that she doesn't already know that you have feelings for her?"

"That." He began as he wrapped an arm around his shoulder. "Isn't my immediate concern."

"What is then?"

"That's a secret."


	5. The Movie

**I don't remember if I've said this before, but I was on vacation last week, thus I was unable to post my chapters. I will be posting the rest of the readied chapters now though, so don't fret.**

**Sir Sleeps-a-lot: Thank you, I appreciate your review and I'm happy that you are enjoying the story so far. To answer your earlier question, Cozzy is just a name I heard mentioned in the cell phone episode.**

**Guest: Well, you will get more**

**dapper64: Thanks, I put a lot of work into it so I hope you like it.**

* * *

The group had just finished lunch and were now on their way to the theater. _'Okay, this is no big deal, it's just some love movie ... probably ... I can do this.'_

"So ..." Cozzy began. "Um, what movie are we watching again?"

"That's still a surprise." Takagi said as she turned around and began walking backwards. "Both of you will find out when it starts."

"Both of us?"

Takagi pointed to Takagawa and smiled.

"Wait a sec." He turned to Takagawa. "You don't know either?"

Takagawa shook her head as Takagi smiled. "Don't worry, Nishikata and I picked out a great one."

"I did very little 'selecting' after you restricted the genre."

"There were plenty of choices, you simply didn't want to look through them all."

Nishikata sighed as they approached the counter. "Yeah, but we still need to get tickets."

They began walking up to the counter when Takagi stopped Cozzy and Sumire. "You two wait here, we'll be right back."

Cozzy and Sumire watched, both feeling a little nervous about being left alone again.

"Takagi!" Nishikata called. "Come on, we need to pick seats."

Takagi ran up and glanced at the touch screen with Nishikata. "Wow." She said as she stared at the screen. "There seems to be ... not many seats left."

"Tell me about it." He said as he began searching for a set of four. "Here, C13 thought C16." He paused as he glanced at the screen once again. _'Actually ... I might have an idea.' _He glanced lower on the screen and noticed that G15 and G16 were also free. He tapped C13 and 14, then moved his hand to right above G15 and 16 and turned back to the others. "Hey guys, you alright with C13 through C16."

"Uh, sure?" Cozzy replied.

"Okay." Nishikata tapped the screen without looking at it, then turned and hit the submit button.

"Hm?" Takagi mumbled as she glanced at Nishikata.

"Is something the matter?" He asked.

Takagi looked at the screen for a moment; Nishikata knew that she had to have noticed the seats he picked. "If I know you like I think I do, then I don't think anything is unintentional has happened, but I am surprised." She paused as she looked him in the eye. A playful smirk appeared on her face and Nishikata knew that he had picked the right seats. "Then again, this wouldn't be the first time I was wrong about you this week."

"Yeah, it wouldn't." He fed money into the machine and collected the four tickets, making sure to separate them by which he was giving to Sumire and Cozzy, and which he kept for himself and Takagi. "Okay, are we all ready?" He asked as they walked back to the others.

"As ready as we'll ever be." Cozzy replied.

Nishikata handed them the C13 and 14 tickets, while he 'absentmindedly' handed Takago one of the other ones. "Uh, actually, I think I'll get a snack really quick." _'This is perfect.' _He thought to himself. _'Seeing as we just ate, no one else will want to eat anything, so I'll have the perfect excuse to not go in with them.' _He glanced at Takagi. _'She should also know, so it's only a matter of time before she-'_

"I actually need to use the bathroom." Takagi added.

_'Right on cue, I guess this is one of the times when her ability to practically read my mind comes in handy.'_

"Okay then, we'll see you guy inside?" Cozzy asked.

"Yeah, sure." Nishikata replied.

They watched as the two of them walked in, and as soon as they were gone, Takagi turned to Nishikata and leaned closer to him. "I saw what you did with those tickets." She reached for his hand and began running her fingers along the side of it. "Did you really want to sit next to me _that _badly?"

Nishikata blushed as he turned away. _'Yes.' _"You can tell Takagawa that she owes me."

"You really mean to tell me that you really didn't have any ulterior motive for this at all?" She moved her hands from his fingers to his sides.

_'Damn it!' _He thought, as his blush worsened; They were so close at this point, that they might accidentally kiss if one of them flinched. "Takagi, you remember why you needed to ask for my help for this whole ordeal?"

"Oh, I remember." She poked her fingers into his sides, causing him to burst out in laughter.

"TA-TA-TAKAGI!" He exclaimed as he tried to recoil, only for Takagi to continue tickling him.

"I can always count on you being ticklish Nishikata." She said as she continued to tickle him. After a moment, she eased off and smiled at him. "You really thought I would kiss you, didn't you?"

"I ... no." He said as he struggled to get his breath back.

"Relax, even if I was going to kiss you, I wouldn't do it _before _going into a romantic movie."

"I ..." He looked away. "I didn't think you were about to kiss me."

"Really?"

"You were tempting me to kiss you again so you can tell everyone about the first one."

She looked at him a little confused. "Huh?"

"Our deal said that you can't talk about the kiss with anyone who doesn't already know that we kissed, you never specified which kiss."

"Oh, well if that's the case, all I would have to do is kiss you randomly at school."

Nishikata recoiled. "You wouldn't do that, would you?"

"Of course not." She turned around and began walking away. "You'll wait for me before going in, right?"

"Sure." Nishikata replied as he looked away.

"Good, and I'll wait for you." Nishikata looked at her confused and embarrassed as she continued walking towards the bathroom.

"What was that about? Waiting for me? I'm not going to take that long." He paused as a thought occurred to him. "Wait, she didn't mean ... she's waiting for me to kiss her again, is she?!" He quickly slapped his forehead. "No, no, of course not, I'm looking way too far into things."

Nishikata made his way to the snack bar trying to calm his racing heart. "But damn her, why does she have to toy with me like that?" _'At this rate, I may accidentally give it away ... should ... should I just tell her today?' _He shook his head. _'No, today is for Cozzy and Sumire, not Takagi and I.' _He continued his stroll and when he reached the snack bar, he simply ordered a medium popcorn and drink. _'I'm actually not that hungry, I just needed an excuse to get away from the others.'_

He took his food, then made his way to the theater entrance, where he proceeded to wait for Takagi. "It's only a movie ... a romance movie ... that I will be watching alone with Takagi ... yeah, that's totally going to end well."

"Nishikata?" Came Takagi's voice as she approached. "Ready?"

He turned to her and felt his heart stop. _'I totally can't do this.' _"As I'll ever be."

"Excellent." She grabbed his hand and began walking in. It was rather crowded, but they still managed to make it to their seats without much issue.

The opening previews were just coming to and end, and Nishikata felt his heart began to beat faster again as he glanced at Takagi. _'She's so cute.' _He shook his head and turned his attention back to the movie. _'No, I can't think about that ... I need to stay focused and not accidentally let my feelings slip.' _He smiled and nodded. _'Should be easy enough so long as I remain silent.'_

He took a sip of his soda and relaxed as the movie started; it was what he expected, a romance, but before long, he began to notice some odd things about it. The movie had this familiar dynamic between the main character and his crush, in which the crush had a habit of teasing him constantly. _'Why ...'_

"Nishikata." Takagi whispered. "Can I have some of that popcorn?"

Nishikata picked up the bag of popcorn and placed it between them. "Sure."

"Thank you." She reached in and took a small handful of popcorn and began eating it one by one.

The movie continued, and Nishikata began to understand it a bit more, the main character was facing a lot of stress from finals and transferring to a school in another country that he wasn't telling the girl who teased him about, even though she had shown that she was getting more and more concerned about him. _'Man, I feel sorry for him.' _He reached into his bag of popcorn but found that it was apparently nearly empty. _'Maybe I should have gotten the large.'_

He reached in again, but this time, found it a lot less empty than it was a second ago, there was the feeling of soft skin that he instantly recognized. _'Takagi.' _He slowly turned to her and saw that she had also turned to look at him, and that their hands had indeed touched. _'Okay ... this is no big deal.'_

"Hey Nishikata." Takagi began with a smile. "You wanna have a contest?"

"Contest?" He asked. "What did you have in mind?"

"Simple." She wrapped her hand around his and interlocked their fingers, causing him to blush. "If you can hold my hand until the end of the movie, you win."

"That's it?" He asked.

"Yup."

He smiled as he grabbed her hand. "Easy." _'Takagi, you fool, the old me might not be able to handle this till the end, but now I actually ... want to ...' _He began to blush and turn away. _'Okay, maybe I'm still a little embarrassed, but I still won't lose this Takagi.' _"Let's start right now."

"Oh?" She asked. "If you say so." She turned back to watch the movie. "How was that soda by the way?"

Nishikata froze as his eyes turned to his drink; he wasn't paying attention to how much he drank, but after quickly picking it up, he found that it was empty. _'Oh, I really jumped the gun here.'_

"I take it, it was good."

_'Damn, I was too ecstatic, I didn't consider that there might possibly be another way I could lose.' _As he thought about it, he realized that he actually kinda had to use the bathroom. _'Oh, this isn't good.'_

"You know, if you had asked before agreeing to start the contest, I would have allowed you to take a quick trip to the bathroom."

"I don't need it." He turned back to the screen, trying not to think about the growing need to go to the bathroom. _'I can hold it, it looks like the movies in its climax anyway, maybe another twenty minutes.' _He silently groaned. _'That's still a long time.'_

He sat there as he watched the movie, trying harder and harder as it continued at a snail's pace. _'I can hold it.' _The main character was now in his finals, and the teaser had found out that he lied to him and now they weren't on speaking terms. _'Man I really need to go.' _He thought as he crossed his legs. _'But I can hold it!'_

"Nishikata." Takagi squeaked. "You're squeezing my hand a bit tight."

Nishikata froze for a moment, before turning to look at her and noticing that she looked slightly uncomfortable and that he practically had her hand in a death grip. _'Oh ... shit.'_

He quickly let go of her and held his hands up. "I'm sorry." He looked at her tending to her hand and felt a wave of guilt wash over him. "I am so, so very sorry."

"Nishikata." She said as she turned to him.

It was, at that moment, he realized that he had lost the contest, and should probably not be where he currently was. "I need to use the bathroom." He dashed from the room and into the nearest bathroom, locking himself in a stall and punching the wall. "DAMN IT!" He exclaimed. "I really messed up this time." He stood there for a few moments before he remembered the urge he was feeling not too long ago. "I should probably go to the bathroom."

Back in the theater, Takagi was rubbing her hand and breathed a sigh of relief. The movie was starting to come to an end, and the couples were getting closer and closer. "I just had to push him ... again." She fought down a blush and tried to remain calm. "If I hadn't ... then ..." She glanced up at the screen. The main character had managed to pass his tests, thanks to some anonymous help from the girl who teased him, something Nishikata probably didn't pick up on, and she had snuck into his room from the window, and they were now formally making up. "Right here, the two of us might have been ... no, he would have ... but then again ... " The girl forgave him, and they, as well as most of the couples in the theater, shared a kiss. "It really wasn't the right place or time for Nishikata and I anyway." She glanced up ahead at her friend and her friends crush, trying to maintain her smile; they weren't kissing, but they did look like they were sitting closer, not that either of them noticed. "What sort of wing girl would I be if I got in a relationship when my friend didn't? Yeah, this is probably for the best." She sighed and looked to the seat next to her. "But that stupid habit ... really didn't go the way I thought it would ... it probably undid all the progress we made with the kiss." She brought her knees to her chest and tried not to cry. "Guess we won't be getting together before Christmas."


	6. Recover and regret

The credits were now rolling and Nishikata had only just gotten back to his seat and was staring at the screen in disappointment. "I ... missed the ending."

"It's okay." Takagi replied as she rubbed her hand again. "That just means that we'll have to come back."

Takagi expected Nishikata to look embarrassed, but the look of shame on his face was still very much the only thing present. "I'm ... sorry for almost crushing your hand."

"It's fine, I don't think anything's broken so there's no need to worry." She pushed herself to her feet and turned to Nishikata. "So, shall we go before Sumire and Cozzy find out that we set them up?"

"Yeah, good idea." _'Damn it, how could this happen?' _Nishikata thought to himself. _'I completely forgot that I was holding Takagi's hand and I accidentally crushed it, how could I be so damn careless?'_

They made their way out of the theater and waited at the exit for their friends. "So." Nishikata began. "What'd I miss?"

"Mostly, them making up and kissing." Takagi answered.

"Then I missed the climax, damn."

"Well, like I said, we'll just have to come back and see it again." Nishikata blushed slightly and Takagi smiled. _'At least we didn't fall that far behind.' _

They turned back to the door just as their friends were exiting the theater. "Guys!" Cozzy exclaimed. "Where did you disappear to?"

"Apparently Nishikata got us seats in the G row instead of the C row." Takagi explained.

"Hey, I didn't notice it when I hit it, and the G kinda looks like a C so it was easy to not notice at first." There was an awkward silence. Everyone knew the truth, that Nishikata separated them on purpose, but no one knew that everyone else also knew the truth, except Nishikata.

"So." Cozzy began. "We should-"

"Probably get going?" Sumire replied. "Yeah, we can't stay here for too long, or we could get in trouble."

They all began walking without so much as a word, with Nishikata lagging behind everyone else. _'I really need to watch it, I could have broken her hand.' _He glanced down at his hand and sighed. _'And here I was working on my grip strength just to look cool, that was a dumb idea.'_

"Hey." Cozzy whispered as he tapped him on the shoulder. "I owe you, big time."

"Huh? Oh, right, yeah, no sweat, what are friends for?"

"Thanks dude."

Further to the front of the pack, Sumire and Takagi were having a somewhat similar conversation. "That was intentional, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, Nishikata wanted to help."

"You sure he didn't do it because he wanted to sit with you?" She asked with a knowing smile.

Takagi held her right hand which was still sore. "That was probably an added bonus for him, and me as well honestly."

"So tell me." She leaned closer. "Did you guys ... you know?"

Takagi shook her head. "Nishikata actually had to take a bathroom break right before the ending, so he wasn't there when ... the kissing happened."

"Well, that's no good."

"It's fine, really, what kind of wing girl would I be if I got together with my crush when the purpose of this double date is to get you closer to yours?"

"Now I feel sorry, you two should have had your first kiss by now."

_'You have no idea.' _"It'll happen when he's ready."

"You have the patience of a saint."

"Well, I try to spend the time teasing him, it makes the days just fly by sometimes." She paused and glanced at a nearby store. "Oh, I almost forgot." She turned back to the others, who were still a short distance behind her. "Guys, I need to make a quick stop, my mom has an order that needs to be picked up in this store right here."

Both the boys looked at the store. "Uh, what store is this?" Cozzy asked.

"It's an engraving store." Takagi explained. "They sell a wide variety of items and jewelry that you can get engraved for a present." She began moving in and stopped as she reached the entrance. "You guys go on without me, I'll see you in school."

"Hold on, I'll come with you." Sumire said as she followed.

"I want to see what this place is all about." Cozzy said as he also followed.

Nishikata looked around for a moment, then began following as well. "I don't want to be left out here alone."

The inside of the store was lined with various objects, from mugs, to wine glasses, clocks, watches, jewelry, and various other items. "This is nice." Cozzy said as he looked around. "And you said you can get any of these engraved with ... what exactly?"

"A name, and a message depending on what item it is." Takagi said as she stepped up to the counter and handed the man a piece of paper. "Hi, I'm here to pick up an order for Takagi?"

The man looked it over then nodded. "Could you give me a few minutes? We're backed up right now with filling orders."

"Sure."

"Thank you." The man went into the back and Takagi began walking around the store with the others.

"I've only been here a few times myself, but there's one thing I really wanted to get." She wandered over to the jewelry section, but as soon as she got there, her expression turned to one of disappointment. "Oh no."

"What is it?" Nishikata asked as he walked over to see what she was staring at.

There was a number of 'sold out' signs on many of the items. "They're sold out of what I wanted."

"Which one was it?"

She pointed to a piece that had a small heart shaped pendant on it, the exact same one that Nishikata had gotten for her. "I mean, there are a lot in here that I would like ..." She smiled and pointed to an item that was two necklaces, each with a puzzle piece at the end. "Hey, Nishikata, we should totally get that for each other."

Nishikata glanced down and felt his face go red again. "Yeah, I kinda ... don't have a large sum of money to get that."

She laughed and placed her hand on the glass. "I know, and that's something couples do anyway, isn't it?"

"Couples," Nishikata began as he pointed to something in the case. "I think you mean the heart and key, the puzzle pieces can be for a pair that are just friends, not only couples."

"Yeah, fair enough."

"Takagi?" Came the employee's voice as he came to the front with a bag that had a box in it. "I have your order."

"Wow." She said as she moved back. "That was faster than I thought it would be."

"Well, not many people are ordering glass so it was easier to find that I initially imagined."

"Oh, by the way." She pointed back to the display case she was just at. "Do you know when you'll be getting more of those in?"

"Sorry, everything that's sold out in that case is on back order, won't be getting any more in until after New Year's."

"Oh, I see." She grabbed the bag. "Thanks anyway."

"Have a nice day!"

Takagi trudged back to the rest of the group and smiled. "Well, that's all I needed, shall we go?"

"Yeah, I actually like this place, might come back." Cozzy said.

"I know, it gives gifts a personal touch." Takagi replied as they all walked out. "Just don't rely on it too much, it'll wear out faster than you may imagine."

"Noted."

They continued walking out of the mall as Nishikata kept on glancing at Takagi's hand, it didn't seem like anything was wrong with it, and she wasn't acting like there was something wrong either, but Nishikata still felt guilty. _'Maybe ... I should ... do something.'_

He remained silent until they got to the exit where everyone was supposed to part ways. "Okay, I'll see you all at school Monday." Cozzy said before leaving the group.

When he was far enough away, Sumire turned to Nishikata and Takagi and smiled. "Thank you guys again, today went perfectly."

"It was our pleasure." Takagi replied.

"No, really, if there is anything I can do to return the favor-"

"Don't you and Cozzy live in somewhat the same direction?" Takagi interrupted.

Sumire looked back for a moment before turning back to Nishikata and Takagi. "You ... think I should?"

"Just go, before he gets too far away."

She looked back again, then once more, to Nishikata and Takagi. "Thank you." She ran off in his direction, leaving Nishikata and Takagi alone.

"Well, it's finally just the two of us again." She held out a hand to Nishikata. "Shall we?"

Nishikata reached out but hesitated. "I-"

"Oh, shut up." She said as she took his hand. "I said I'm fine so stop worrying."

Nishikata blushed a little but didn't move. "Hey, Takagi." He began causing her to turn and look at him. "Would you ... you wanna go get some ice cream?"

Takagi looked at Nishikata completely shocked. "I ..."

"You won the contest after all." Nishikata quickly added. "And ... also I feel bad about nearly crushing your hand."

She looked at him, still in a state of shock, before bursting into laughter. "Oh, Nishikata." She began as she calmed down. "I'll take you up on that offer, but on one condition."

"And what's that?"

She leaned closer and brought her face closer to his. "You have to feed me."

Nishikata's expression turned to one of pure terror. "What?"


	7. Not really a date

Takagi was sitting outside the snack shop as Nishikata walked out with two popsicles. "That didn't take too long, did it?"

"Nope." Takagi said as she moved to the side and tabbed the seat to her left. "Now sit down and let's eat."

"Oh, right." Nishikata took the seat next to Takagi and began unwrapping her popsicle; she left very little room for him to sit, but just enough so that he was directly up against her. "So." He held the popsicle up and she took a bite.

"Mmmmmm." She said before taking another bite. "Thank you for this, it's really sweet of you."

"Well, I do owe you a few times over." Nishikata said as he struggled to open his with his free hand.

"Nishikata?" Takagi said as she noticed him struggling. "How about," She placed her hand on his. "We simply share these one at a time."

Nishikata's face went bright red. _'Sh-share? Damn it, that's an indirect kiss, and she knows it!'_

"You know, if you're afraid of an indirect kiss," She leaned forward and put her face close to his. "Then maybe I should just give you a direct kiss, one that's deep and passionate, that makes something like sharing a popsicle seem like nothing."

"I'm not afraid!" Nishikata exclaimed.

She moved her popsicle closer to his mouth and smiled. "Then prove it."

He stared at the popsicle and laughed nervously. _'I can do this, I gave her a direct kiss a few days ago, this should be easy.' _He moved the popsicle closer to his mouth and paused. _'Why is this so hard.'_

Takagi let out a sigh and shook her head. "Close your eyes Nishikata, this might take some time." She brought her face closer to his, causing his heart rate to skyrocket.

_'I HAVE TO DO THIS!' _He took a bite out of the popsicle causing Takagi to stop.

"You're no fun."

"What's gotten into you today?" Nishikata asked as Takagi took another bite of the popsicle. "You're a lot more ... I don't know what the word is, intense maybe?"

"Do you like me better this way?"

"I like you the way you normally are." He paused. "Wait, that didn't come out right."

She burst into laughter, causing Nishikata's blush to fade slightly. "How do I put this? I'm ... testing the limits."

"Huh?"

"A few days ago, you caught me completely off guard, that means that you're a little more resilient to things like that, and I need to find out how resilient if I want to continue to tease you."

"I guess that kinda makes sense, but why tell me?"

"Well I told you I never lie to you, and there's not much you could do about it anyway." She took a bite out of the popsicle and glanced at Nishikata.

_'Well, I have realized love her, maybe that's why I'm better at this.' _He took a bite out of the popsicle. "If someone saw us right now, they'd definitely get the wrong idea."

"Would they though?"

Nishikata nodded. "This definitely looks like a date right now, especially if they knew where we just came from."

"So you're saying ... it's not a date?"

Nishikata blushed as he glanced at Takagi. "I ..."

"If it's not a date, then what is it?"

Nishikata's face went even redder as he tried to look away. "I ... it's ..." He took another bite out of the popsicle and tried to calm himself.

"You know," She began as she gave him a sly smile. "A date's simply when two people who are romantically interested in each other get together with the intent of furthering their relationship, it never says anything about them knowing that their partner is doing the same thing. That means, this could actually be a date and neither of us knows it."

Nishikata grabbed his chest as his heart sped out of control; he tried speaking but his mouth was way too dry. _'I need ... to cool off.' _He scarfed down the rest of the popsicle and took a few deep breaths. "Takagi, could you take it down a notch or five ... or twenty?"

She snickered for a bit before bursting into laughter. "Oh Nishikata, your reactions are just too perfect." She calmed down a little and smiled at him. "Okay, I have all the info I need anyway."

"Good for you." Nishikata said as he opened the second popsicle. "Here, you want the first bite?"

"Don't mind if I do." She said before biting into it.

Nishikata watched her as his heart continued to pound in his chest. _'Damn, that was way too close.' _He took a bite out of the popsicle and stared off into space.

"You know." Takagi began before taking another bite. "You've really come far with the whole, indirect kiss, thing." She smiled as she watched Nishikata take another bite. "Guess I won't be able to use that to tease you anymore."

"Thank goodness." Nishikata was about to take another bite out of the popsicle when he noticed Takagi's face was now extremely close to his.

"Looks like I may need to upgrade to direct kisses."

Nishikata's face turned red, once again, as Takagi started laughing. "I know, I know, I'm sorry I won't do that." She turned away and tried to fight down a blush that was forming. "So anyway ... I have a question, are you going to that Christmas party that's down the street from us?"

"The one tomorrow?"

"Yeah, that would be the one."

"Yup, my parents are dragging me along with them."

"Great, I didn't want to be the only non adult there." She said before breathing a sigh of relief.

Nishikata looked at her again and smiled. "Yeah, being at parties where adults just talk all the time, are the worst."

"Then I look forward to seeing you tomorrow as well."

She gave him a closed eyed smile, and he felt his heart jump. _'Maybe tomorrow ... I can give her the present.'_


	8. Christmas party

**New chapter is ready!**

* * *

The following day had come and Nishikata and his family were making their way to the Christmas party; it was relatively pleasant out compared to the past few days, most of the snow had melted and it was just the right temperature to not need winter jackets. "So, are you excited?" Nishikata's mom asked.

"Huh? You mean to watch a bunch of old people talking about old people things? Yeah, I'm extremely excited."

"Now son, you can't always have fun, sometimes you have to do boring things with old people." His father replied.

"I heard Takagi's going to be there."

"I know mom! She told me yesterday."

"I'm sorry, who's Takagi?" His father asked.

"You remember, she's our son's little girlfriend."

"SHE'S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!"

"Now I'm concerned, maybe you should stay with us old people all night."

"DAD!"

"I'm joking, seriously though, don't do anything you may regret."

"I will try."

They soon reached the house and rang the doorbell and greeted the residents, but Nishikata wasn't really paying attention. _'Should I try to get back at her? Or try and ask her out? I mean if I'm giving her, her present today, then I guess it's asking her out.'_

He looked up and saw his parents begin going inside and followed them; the inside of the house was nice, kinda the same layout as his, only larger and with another wing. There were also a lot of people but not so much that it was extremely crowded. "Hm, I wonder where she could be." He separated from his parents and began looking around. "Maybe ... she's not here yet?"

After a moment of searching, he noticed someone else that he recognized. "Is that ..." He strolled up to them. "Hamaguchi?" He asked.

Hamaguchi turned around and smiled when he saw Nishikata. "Hey! Nishikata!" He greeted. "Nice to see a friendly face."

"Likewise. So, you were dragged here as well?"

"No way man, I came of my own free will."

Nishikata narrowed his eyes at him. "Really now? Is Houjou here or something?"

"That's right, I heard that she was going to be here and wanted to use this opportunity to get a little closer to her."

"Did you get her a present yet?"

Hamaguchi tried to hide the worry on his face but failed miserably. "Well ... not yet ... but I will."

"You should probably get in that before Christmas, it's this week after all."

"Oh, like you're one to talk, have you gotten anything for Takagi yet?"

"I ..." Nishikata remained silent as Hamaguchi scoffed.

"Didn't think so."

"Well." Nishikata began slowly. "If ... I got her something ... that would be admitting that I like her."

"Everyone already knows that you like her."

"Yeah ... maybe even she knows I love her."

"That's a first." Hamaguchi began. "I don't think I've ever heard you admit that before."

"Yeah, well ... I'm hoping to admit it to one person in particular tonight so ... trying to get used to it."

Hamaguchi's eyes went wide before he slapped his hand onto Nishikata's back. "Well then I wish you the best of luck, I need to see if I can find Houjou."

"Likewise then."

Hamaguchi turned and walked away as Nishikata began his search for Takagi once again. "What am I even going to say to her when I find her?"

There was a tap on Nishikata's shoulder that caused him to turn around and come face to face with the very person he was looking for. "Hey Nishikata." Takagi greeted. She was wearing formal clothes, just a light blue dress with a long skirt that stopped just above her feet.

"Oh, hey, Takagi." He greeted. "Glad to see someone else who's not three times my age."

She giggled a little. "Oh, speaking of which, your parents are here, right?"

"Yeah."

"I don't think I've ever met them before, even though I've been over your house like, three times, was it?"

"It was only one!" Nishikata exclaimed. "And ... no, I don't ... think I've ... met your parents either."

"Hmmm?" She gave a sly smile. "Maybe we should fix that."

"HUH?!" Nishikata's face turned bright red as he recoiled. "I mean ... but ... what if-"

Takagi burst into laughter again as she placed a hand on Nishikata's shoulder to steady herself. "Your reactions are always so amusing, my parents are actually with a few other friends so it's probably not the best time anyway."

"Yeah, you're right."

There was a long awkward pause as Nishikata tried to find something to say. _'What should I do? Try to strike up a conversation? But about what? I have not really thought up an efficient way to get back at her and I don't want to do it with so many people watching.' _"So, have you seen anyone else from our school here?"

"Just Mano, but I heard that Houjou was going to be here."

"Yeah, I saw Hamaguchi not too long ago, and he said the same thing."

"Oh? Is he going to try and confess to her again?"

"I-" Nishikata turned away and tried not to make eye contact. "I haven't the slightest idea." Nishikata looked around and noticed a couple of people glancing at the two of them before going back to whatever it was they were doing. "Uh, hey, could we ... go someplace where there are less people glancing at us?"

"Why? You nervous?"

"A little."

"Okay then, where did you have in mind?"

"Uh." He looked around for any place where not too many people would gather. "How about we go outside on the deck, that's private enough."

"Okay then." She took Nishikata's hand and smiled. "Let's go."

They made their way through the crowd to the back of the house where they found the sliding glass door that led to the deck. "Actually, are we allowed back there?"

"I saw some people out here earlier, so I think it's okay." Takagi replied as she opened the door. It was still pleasant out, not too cold, and the deck was deserted for the time being.

"Yeah, this is much better." Nishikata said before striding to his left to get out of the sight lines of anyone inside.

"So." Takagi began as she followed him. "What did you want to talk to me about in private?"

"I ..." Nishikata blushed slightly. "I just ... didn't like to be around so many old people."

Takagi giggled. "You know we're going to be old people at some point as well."

"Yeah, well that's not for quite some time." He smiled and looked away. "Hey, speaking of which ... I know it's not really a Christmas topic ... but did you put any thought on where you want to go for High School?"

"Not yet, why do you ask?"

"Oh, well ... I was ... just thinking."

"Hmm?" She gave a sly smile as she moved to place him between the wall and her. "Did you want to go to the same highschool as me?"

"WHAT?! NO! Not the same, just close so that we could still walk home together!" Takagi expression went from sly too surprised as Nishikata's mind caught up to what he actually said. "I DIDN'T MEAN IT LIKE THAT!" He exclaimed. "I mean, I still need to get back at you and to do that, I need to still see you every now and then!" _'She's going to laugh at me again.' _Nishikata thought to himself.

Surprisingly, Takagi didn't laugh, but simply smiled. "I'd actually like that a lot."

"Wait ... really?" Nishikata asked as he began to feel a little more at ease.

"Yeah, let's look into it together." She said as a tiny blush formed on her face.

"Really?" Nishikata said, feeling more than a little triumphant. "That'd be great! I mean for ... yeah, that'd ... I'd-" He began looking around as he attempted to get back on track. "Thank you."

"Well, we are friends, aren't we?"

"Yeah, we-" Nishikata glanced up, and all the triumph and all the warmth quickly drained out of him; hanging above them, and along the wall in various other locations, was a small plant with green leaves and red berries, or as it was more commonly known, a mistletoe. _'That's ... that's ... we have to-' _He glanced at Takagi, who clearly noticed his distress, but not what had happened. _'What am I going to do, I can't ... can I?'_

"You okay?" She asked as she stared at him concerned.

_'I have to at least tell her.' _He slowly pointed up and as she looked at where he was pointing, she recoiled backwards and stared at it intensely.

"Oh ... That's ... that's um ..."

_'I ... I did this before, right?' _He felt a growing pressure inside his chest. _'I did this once, I can do it again, I just have to do it before I lose my confidence ... I ... I can't-'_

"Um, Nishikata?" Takagi began as she looked at him. "We ... don't ha-"

"Can we just get this over with before anyone sees us?" Nishikata interrupted, causing Takagi to pause. _'Wha-what did I just ... too late to turn back now.'_

Takagi was silent for a moment before dropping her hands, revealing a small blush. "You want to ... okay ..." She swayed her arms back and forth for a bit before placing her hands on his shoulders. "Are you ... ready?"

Nishikata's face was redder than it had ever been. "Y-yeah, let's ... before someone walks out and sees us."

"Right." She slowly began bringing her face closer to his.

_'Here it comes.' _Time seemed to slow down as his mind began racing. _'This will be nothing, just a quick kiss and it's done ... right?' _She was now only a centimeter away. _'But ... I want to tell her ... I want this to be more than simple.'_

He threw his hands around the small of her back and pulled her into his embrace as he pressed his lips against hers, causing her to let out a squeak in surprise.


	9. Aftermath

**Hi there, I don't want to say anything because that will just make this take longer, and I already have the reviews to take care of so there's that.**

**Dapper64: Well 'next' is here!**

* * *

Takagi's eyes were wide open as she still came to grips with what was happening. _'He's ... he's ... screw it.' _She slowly wrapped her arms around the back of his neck as she kissed him back. _'I'm not missing this one.'_

They stood there, in each others embrace, with neither of them aware of how much time had actually passed. When they finally separated, both of them were out of breath, stunned at what had just happened.

They stood there for a few moments, still holding onto each other. "Yeah." Nishikata whispered.

"Yeah." Takagi replied.

They continued to stand there for a few moments, lost in each other's eyes. _'That was amazing.' _Nishikata thought.

They both started to subconsciously move closer to each other once again, wanting a second kiss.

"Um." Came a voice that caused both of them to snap to attention and turn to see Mano standing there, blushing like crazy. "I ... I didn't mean to ... I'll just leave you two alone." She raced back inside and both of them began to feel uneasy.

"Takagi?" Nishikata began as his hands fell to his sides. "You said you saw people out here earlier."

"What?" Takagi asked as she quickly turned to look at him. "No, I mean, yes, but I wasn't out where when I saw them, I only saw them through the door." She let go of him and began to step back. "Look, I'll talk to Mano and make sure she doesn't say a word about what happened, I promise."

Nishikata watched Takagi run inside and followed shortly after. _'Damn ... why did I say that?'_ He slapped his forehead in frustration. _'Why couldn't I have just told her that it was fine? Why didn't I stop her?'_

He began making his way over to the kitchen where snacks were being held and got himself a cup of water. _'I should have said something ... why did I hesitate? This is exactly like the summer camp folk dance all over again.' _He leaned against a wall and stared into his cup, not saying anything.

He wasn't sure how long he had been standing there, but eventually, he heard someone walk up to him. "Hey." Hamaguchi said as he waved, trying to grab his attention. "You okay?"

"I'm fine." He mumbled.

"Um ... you sure? Cause I just saw Takagi and it looked like she was embarrassed by something."

"Huh?" Nishikata glanced up at him, somewhat still indifferent, even though Hamaguchi just said that Takagi was embarrassed. "Yeah, well ... if you're asking if I beat her, the answer is no."

"Are you sure you're okay?" Hamaguchi asked as he moved to get a better look at his face. "Because your face looks extra red."

Nishikata placed a hand on his face and felt that it still warm, what's more, his heart was still pounding in his chest. "Oh, so it is."

"Okay, now I'm worried, could you tell me what happened?"

"You wanna know so badly?" He asked as he turned to look Hamaguchi in the eye. "Find Houjou, and the two of you stand on the deck against the outside wall."

"Uh ... okay?" Hamaguchi paused for a moment before walking away, leaving Nishikata alone again.

_'At least he's gone.'_

Earlier, Takagi had ran after Mano, hoping that she could find her before she tells anyone about what she saw. _'I can't run the risk of Nishikata believing that the kiss was somehow me teasing him, otherwise he'll never believe I like him.'_

She frantically searched until she found her in a less crowded portion of the house sitting on a couch, she looked a little down and as if she wasn't paying attention. "Mano." Takagi greeted.

"Huh?" Mano looked up to see Takagi strolling up to her. "Takagi? Why aren't you with Nishikata?"

"Because if you mention what you saw to anyone, then he may never believe that I actually love him." She replied as she took a seat next to her.

"Wait, so you two aren't dating yet?"

"No." Takagi said as she forced a smile. "We were just kissing because we were under a mistletoe."

"Takagi?" Mano began. "A mistletoe kiss ... is not what I saw."

"Yeah, I don't think Nishikata knew that." She looked towards the ceiling as she began to reminisce about the kiss. "It was amazing, though, I think I was almost as nervous as he was."

"Yeah." Mano said as she looked down. "It must have been nice."

"Huh?" Takagi glanced at Mano and noticed how sad she looked. "Don't tell me."

"Huh?" Mano said as she looked at Takagi.

"When was the last time you and Nakai kissed?"

Mano's face went bright red as she quickly turned away in embarrassment. "N-not often, in fact, last time was so long ago that I don't even remember."

"Mano, tell me the truth."

Mano sighed as she began to tear up. "We've ... never kissed."

"Mano!" Takagi exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because it's not something you should worry yourself with."

"It is something I'll worry myself with, you're my friend, if it bothers you-"

"It's fine, you and Nishikata are simply closer than Nakai and I are."

"You don't have to look at it like that, some relationships are different from others, you shouldn't compare them."

"Well, yeah, but I'm just ... very envious of you."

Takagi laughed and shook her head. "Mano, I'm the one who's envious of you."

"What? You have Nishikata wrapped around your finger and can practically get him to do whatever you want, why are you envious of me of all people?"

Takagi looked at her and smiled. "Because, you were able to tell your crush how you feel."


	10. Realization

**Hello everyone! Welcome to a new year and a new me! But I don't have much else to say, so I'll leave you all to it.**

**Sir Sleeps-a-lot: Well, she's not what some would call, courageous, she's got her own share of issues with confessing. As for Hamaguchi and Houjou ... You'll have to wait and see.**

* * *

The party had ended the previous day, and Nishikata was still thinking about what had happened as he got to school. "I haven't been able to talk to her about it yet ... and I don't know what to say." He said as he reached his classroom. "I mean ... there's no beating around the bush here, Takagi and I practically made out yesterday ... then again, she did go along with it as well."

He sighed as he took his seat and stared at the blackboard. _'It's almost Christmas ... and I need to give her, her present.'_

A moment later, there was a slam on Nishikata's desk, and he looked up to see Hamaguchi glaring at him. "You've got some nerve Nishikata!" He exclaimed.

"Did something go wrong?"

He stood up straight and turned away. "No, but you could have warned me."

"Then you would have chickened out."

"I would not have chickened out!" He said as he began to blush.

"Look, unless you have another point to make, just thank me and go."

Hamaguchi glared at him before letting out a sigh. "Thanks ..." He walked away leaving Nishikata alone with his thoughts once more.

_'Finally, I can hear myself think aga-'_

Nishikata's thought process was interrupted by the teacher tapping on the blackboard, signaling the start of class. "Allright class, this is our last day before winter break, so let's make the most out of it."

Nishikata glanced to his side in confusion. _'Wait, where is she?_'

"Okay, let's start with attendance."

The teacher began calling off names as each student responded, though Nishikata was just a tiny bit distracted. _'It's not like her to be absent.' _Nishikata thought to himself.

Moments later, the classroom door opened as Takagi wandered in. "Sorry I'm late."

"I haven't called your name yet so you're just in time." The teacher replied.

"Thank you sir." She made her way over to her seat as Nishikata looked at her curiously.

"It's not like you to come in at the last minute."

"Yeah, I wasn't able to sleep much last night, so I was a little slower than usual getting here."

Nishikata thought to himself for a moment. _'I actually didn't get much sleep either, but still.' _"Are you okay?"

She nodded. "Just a lot on my mind lately."

"Takagi." The teacher called out.

"Here." Takagi replied.

"Like what?" Nishikata asked.

"Oh, like ... last night."

Nishikata felt a sense of unease and nervousness. "Yeah ... that was ... the second time in one week."

"Second time ever as well."

"And last but not least." The teacher began. "Nishikata."

"Here." Nishikata replied.

"Okay then, let's get started." The teacher turned back to the blackboard and began writing as he began the lesson.

"Let's talk later." Nishikata said trying to avoid the conversation.

The class went on uneventfully as Nishikata tried to pay attention to the lesson.

The day had flown by and Nishikata was now packing up his things to go home. _'I need to do this, I need to tell her. She's probably going to laugh either way, but I can handle that, I need to handle that.' _He took another deep breath as he continued putting his things in his bag. _'But how am I supposed to do this?'_

"Hey, Nishikata?" Came Takagi as she finished packing up.

"Hm?" Nishikata turned to look at her and noticed something off about her. _'Is it just me, or is she ... nervous?'_

"I ... you wanna walk home together?"

Nishikata felt a blush come on. "Uh, sure."

"Great." They stood up and stared at each other awkwardly for a moment. "Well, we should get going, right?"

"Uh ... yeah."

The walk to their lockers was awkward to say the least, as was the walk leaving the school. It wasn't until they had left the school grounds, and the view of everyone else when they started to feel some semblance of calm.

"So." Takagi began. "About ... yesterday."

"You mean the kiss?" Nishikata asked.

"Yeah, that ... was ... a bit more than what I was expecting."

"Well, I didn't expect it either, so I guess we're even on that front."

"I suppose that's true."

They continued walking, trying to think of something to say to break the awkward silence. _'Why is this so hard?' _Nishikata thought as he glanced at Takagi. _'Even she's having a hard time-' _Nishikata's mind froze as that thought went through his head. _'Takagi never has a hard time with anything, yet she looks almost as nervous as me. I mean sure, we've never kissed before last week, but she pokes fun at me possibly having romantic feelings for her all the time, why is it any different now?' _He crossed his arms and continued thinking. _'Come to think of it, she's been acting like this since the first kiss, I mean aside from when we shared those popsicles but-' _Another realization hit him. _'Have I ever flirted back at her?' _He racked his mind, trying to come up with situations where that may have applied. _'Let's see, there was the failed critical hit ... she froze ... What about those times before the summer festival when we were stuck behind the barrels, or alone under that tree?' _He shook his head. _'No, I was completely on the receiving end of that. As for the summer festival itself ... I wasn't really paying attention to her face when I grabbed her hand.' _He tried to think up more instances, but in every situation he could remember, he either ran, or she somehow averted her face. _'I might possibly be onto something ... a secret weakness ... I need to test something.' _"Hey ... Takagi?" He began nervously. She glanced at him, and he gathered every scrap of courage to continue. "Tomorrow is ... Christmas eve so ... I was wondering, if you don't have any other plans, would you like to hang out?"

Takagi gave a surprised look, as Nishikata began to anticipate what would happen next. _'Here it comes, she's going to deflect it.' _

"Oh?" She asked as a sly smile formed on her lips. She leaned forward, putting her face much closer to Nishikata's. "Are you trying to ask me out or something?"

_"Called it, but damn, I wish I had thought this part through.' _"I ... uh." _'Damn it Nishikata! Just say something!' _"I ... I'm not sure!" He wanted to look away but managed to force himself to keep looking just enough to see her face. "I just ... want to spend more time with you." A feeling of immense relief washed over him, freeing him from his nerves. As for Takagi, her expression went from sly, back to concerned.

"I ..." She turned around and pulled out her phone. "Let me take care of something."

From the angle he was at, it looked like she was texting someone on her phone, but with the help of a nearby traffic mirror, Nishikata was able to see her face; she was blushing more than what Nishikata believed she was capable of, and her phone was actually held tight to her chest, as she had a nervous smile and was practically shaking. _'She does have a weakness to displays of affection! I've finally found her crippling weakness!' _Nishikata's shoulders slumped as he realized a major flaw in his still developing plan. _'And neither can I, and I can't give them like Takagi either. There goes that plan ... but maybe.' _He continued to ponder as Takagi took a deep breath and turned around.

"Yeah, I'm free." She replied.

_'Oh, that's right, I asked her out.' _"That's wonderful." Nishikata said as he smiled. _'Based on her reaction, if I try to exploit it normally, she'll blush, but if she answers and I don't have a follow up, she'll turn it on me, so I can't exploit this weakness unless I mean what I say. Luckily for me, I do love her so that's not a problem. The problem is, I will only be able to do this once, so I have to make it count. Thankfully, I already have the groundwork all set, I simply need a plan.'_

He glanced over at Takagi and felt his heart race again. _'Aaaaaaand this will be my confession as well, damn I'm nervous.'_


	11. Entrance fee

**And let us get ready for another chapter! And we do that by responding to the reviews!**

**Sir Sleeps-a-lot: I know, it's hard for me to believe as well, but he managed it so far, let's see how far his plan will go.**

**UnderTheUnderground: Believe it or not, I've actually read all of them start to end already, in addition to the Moto series, which I think is actually from a different author. Truith be told, I considered a small crossover in one of my upcoming stories but ultimately decided against it … wait … no, that might not be true … I need to double check my notes.**

**dapper64: Well seeing as I didn't post Friday, I take it you had to wait a little longer than you thought you would have too. No matter, it's here now, right?**

**Frozen red heart: Me alegro de que te guste. Hago mi mejor esfuerzo**

* * *

It was the following day, and Nishikata was in his room, getting ready for his _date _with Takagi, while going over his plan in his head. "Okay, so, we're going to the amusement park and that's where I'm going to finally confess my feelings to Takagi and make her blush at the same time. I'm going to spend the whole day with her, possibly getting teased numerous times, maybe get something to eat, and end the day with a confession!" He took a deep breath as he pulled a small box out of his pocket, inside of which was the necklace he had gotten her, wrapped up nice and neat. "I give her this … and confess to her." He felt his palms begin to sweat profusely. "Even if this is the only time I get to tease her in my lifetime, it'll totally be worth it." He let out a sigh and calmed down. "Plus, even if she somehow turns the tables on me, I'll still have confessed and have my answer, so it's a win either way."

There was a knock at his door, and he ran to open it to find his mom standing there. "Hi sweety." She greeted. "All ready?"

"As I'll ever be." He began. "Thanks again for lending me the extra money for the tickets."

"It was my pleasure, after all, you're going to confess to her and give her the present you got her, right?" His mom said in an almost threatening way.

"Um … yeah, of course I am."

"Great, and remember to take plenty of pictures, and also try to get the one where you manage to kiss her."

"That's … not possible seeing as that will probably be happening when we're alone."

"You plan too much."

"Well, it's probably going to all go sideways and I'll end up confessing in the most embarrassing way possible."

"Get a picture of that and you won't have to pay me back."

"MOM!" Nishikata exclaimed embarrassed.

Meanwhile, Takagi was also getting ready, only with slightly less stress. "I wonder if I should wear makeup." She asked herself as she looked in the mirror. "Hm … no, I don't think I'll need it." She paused for a moment before grabbing a few things and placing them in her carrying bag. "But, just in case."

She did one final check and began making her way downstairs and popping into the living room where her mother was. "I'm leaving to meet up with Nishikata now, I'll be back later."

"Be sure to take plenty of pictures." Her mom called back. "And if you get together today, don't forget to take a picture of you two kissing."

"I'll remember, don't worry." She turned around and made her way over to the door and leaving the house. "I wonder what he's planning on doing."

She continued until she reached the candy shop, the place where they had planned on meeting, where she found Nishikata sitting, anxiously tapping his foot.

"Hey." She greeted causing him to look over. "So, are you ready?"

"Yeah, as I'll ever be." He stood up and extended his right hand.

Takagi smiled as she slowly wrapped her hand around his. "So where are we going?"

"I … we're going to the amusement park."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, they have a two for one special for Christmas eve."

"The amusement park? That sounds romantic." She leaned closer to him, causing him to blush. "Have you decided if this is a date yet?"

"I … isn't that up to you as well?"

She smiled and glanced skywards. "I think I'll let you decide."

'_That almost sounds like she's confessing.' _Nishikata thought to himself. '_Maybe I could … no, I have to stick to my plan!'_

"Hey, how about this, if you decide that this is a date, then I win."

"What?!" He recoiled a little. '_I can't do that, it would basically be admitting defeat!' _"I … refuse."

"Huh?"

"I … don't want any outside factors affecting if this is a date or not."

"Nishikata." '_He really is giving this some serious thought … maybe … I should make it easier for him. I mean I've pushed him to do so much, and he seems like he's ready. Maybe I should make it easy on him and tell him my feelings.' _Her heart rate picked up, and she turned away to hide her blush. '_Um, when the time is right.' _"Let's go, there's probably a crowd there."

"Yeah."

The two of them continued on their way until they reached the entrance, where there was a _very _long line. "Looks like we're going to be here a while." Takagi said as she tried to peep over the line.

"I'm not so sure, it looks like it's moving at a consistent pace."

"Oh? You wanna make it a bet then?"

"Huh? Okay, what's the bet?"

"How about … if we get in there in … say ten minutes, you win."

"Okay." He pulled out his phone and went to a timer app. "Ten minutes, starting … now." He hit the timer and set it back into his pocket. '_Maybe a small loose on my part, but in the end it won't matter much. Who knows, I might get lucky.'_

They began their waiting and much to Nishikata's surprise, the line was moving a lot faster than he had assumed. '_Wow, I might actually win this … no, it's still too early to call.'_

They continued waiting, and before they knew it, it was their turn. "Wow." Nishikata said as they walked up the counter. "Looks like that was faster than I realized."

"You didn't think you would win?"

"No, I just didn't think it would be this fast."

"Well, remember, we need to be inside for you to win."

"No problem." Nishikata said as he strolled up to the counter. "One moment, I have-" He stopped as he realized that his wallet was in his right pocket, and his right hand was busy holding Takagi's. "Hold on." He reached around with his left and began fiddling with his pocket, trying to get it open.

"You know you can just let go of my hand, right?" Takagi said.

"No, I've got this." He managed to open his pocket and pulled out his wallet. "See?" He opened it and paid the man as he handed them two tickets. "All taken care of."

They began walking to the gate as Nishikata smiled triumphantly. '_Maybe this is the start of a winning streak.' _Nishikata handed the tickets to the man behind the second counter, and just as they were about to cross into the park, Nishikata's phone sounded.

"Hm? Is that what I think it is?"

"Uh … yes." Nishikata said as he pulled out his phone and cancelled the alarm. "So … you win." They continued and crossed into the park as Nishikata silently cursed himself. '_I was so close, if only she had said 11 minutes!'_

"Hey, Nishikata?" Takagi began. "You know, you lost because you didn't want to let go of my hand, right?"

He glanced to the side and blushed. "T-there's no way either of us could have known that."

"But you should have been trying everything to get in as quickly as possible, but you drew the line at letting go of my hand?"

Nishikata blushed. "I … It's not that I wouldn't have, it's … that it didn't cross my mind."

"Oh?" She leaned closer and Nishikata's blush worsened. "If that's the case-" She shifted her hand a little and interlocked her fingers with his. "I think I'll hold onto this until we get into a line."

"Uh … if you want." '_Damn.' _Nishikata thought as they entered the park. '_This is going to be a long day.'_


	12. Mirrors and mazes

**And it's time! Time for another chapter. Enjoy!**

**dapper64: You have no idea**

* * *

Nishikata and Takagi had made their way into the park and were waiting on line at the information kiosk. "Why are we here again?" Takagi asked.

"My mom asked me to get plenty of pictures, so I'm getting a photo pass, so the ride pictures get sent to my email."

"Ah, right. You're going to put my email on there as well, right?"

"Huh?"

"Well, my mom and dad want pictures as well."

"Oh, okay then."

They reached the front of the line where the man working the kiosk greeted them. "Good morning, how can I help you?"

"I just need a photo pass." Nishikata explained.

"Okay then, how many emails would you like to attach to it?"

He looked towards Takagi, then back to the kiosk worker. "Two please."

Nishikata gave the man his and Takagi's email and paid for the photo pass before being handed a small card with a camera on it. "You need me to explain how that works?" The kiosk operator asked.

"No, I used one before."

"Okay then, anything else I can help you with?"

"No, that's all."

"Great, have a nice day!"

Nishikata and Takagi left the kiosk and were instantly greeted by another park worker with a camera. "Would you two like your picture taken?"

"Sure." Takagi said before looking to Nishikata. "First picture of the day."

"Yeah." Nishikata said as he handed the pass to the man.

The two of them stood still and smiled as the park worker began setting up the camera. _'This feels like a date.' _Nishikata thought to himself as he glanced at his hand which was still holding Takagi's. _'But then again, it technically is a date so ... I guess that's to be expected.'_

The park worker finished taking their picture and handed the card back to Nishikata. "Well, that's done." Nishikata began. "Now we just need to decide what to go on first."

"Hay, Nishikata?" Takagi began. "Seeing as I won our contest earlier, how about I decide what we do first?"

"Okay, that's fine."

"Okay, then, let's see." She looked around for a moment, then pointed in the direction of one of the rollercoasters. "That one!"

She raced to the entrance, with Nishikata being dragged behind her, and when they got there, the line was understandably lengthy. "I guess we're going to be doing a lot of waiting today, huh?" She said as she let go of his hand and leaned against one of the line rails.

"Looks like it."

They stood there for a while, slowly moving as the line moved listening to the occasional roar or the coaster. "So." Takagi began trying to break the silence. "You know, Houjou looked more than a little flustered yesterday, and when I tried to confront her about it, she just covered her mouth and avoided the conversation. I found it curious."

"Yeah, I think I might know why that happened." Nishikata began.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, two days ago, at the party, Hamaguchi asked my why I was ..." Nishikata blushed. "Well, uneasy. I told him to find Houjou and stand next to the wall on the deck." He let out a soft chuckle and shook his head. "Earlier today, he walked up to me and demanded to know why I didn't warn him."

"Wait a second, you mean they ..."

Nishikata nodded as he blushed a little. "Yeah, I suppose so."

Takagi laughed and looked to the sky. "The look on her face, I know it was only a few days earlier but ... kinda reminds me of our first time."

Nishikata's face went bright red. "Our ... you mean ..." He pulled his hat over his eyes and began whispering. "Our first kiss?"

"Huh?" Takagi said as she leaned closer. "What was that?"

"I said ... does it remind you of our first kiss?"

Takagi gave a sly smile and nodded. "Yup, I remember how exhilarating it was. Definitely unlike anything I've ever experienced."

"Yeah, it was the same for me."

Nishikata glanced up slightly and saw Takagi looking at him surprised and with a slight blush on her face before she laughed. "Yeah, it was definitely something else."

Takagi turned around and looked up at the coaster as Nishikata looked on. _'Man, I can't imagine going through with this with people watching. Definitely need to wait until we're secluded before going through with my plan.'_

They stayed there for a moment before Takagi began talking again. "Hey, Nishikata?"

"What's up?"

"Well, Hamaguchi probably found out that we ... you know, so are you worried about that?"

Nishikata went numb. "Damn, it slipped my mind completely!" He slapped his forehead as he blushed. "I'm sorry, I'm a complete-"

"Stop." She interrupted as she turned around. "You don't have to apologize to me."

"Huh? I don't?"

She shook her head. "I've ... never really minded if anyone knew, I was just worried because I promised you that no one would find out."

"Oh." Nishikata pulled his hat over his eyes again. "Thing is ... I've ... don't mind it anymore."

"Since when?"

Nishikata paused as he tried to build up the courage to answer her. "Well ... do you know the exact time of our second kiss?"

Takagi looked surprised again, only this time, she didn't immediately laugh. "I ..." She closed her eyes, took a deep breath. As soon as she opened her eyes again, she grabbed Nishikata's hands and looked him in the eye. "Nishikata? Is there something you want to say to me?"

"I ..." Nishikata tilted his head down and bit his lower lip. _'I can't yet, I ... I want to make this perfect, not merely a spur of the moment thing.' _"I ... there's nothing I want to say right now." He turned away and Takagi let go of his hands.

"It's okay, I'm sure you'll tell me when you're ready."

_'She knows it's coming, that means I need to make it all the more romantic and be all the more confident when I do confess.'_

They continued waiting for a short while until they finally got to the ride. "That wasn't so bad." Takagi said as the line operator directed them to one of the cars.

_'Yeah, that's because you weren't the one who had to resist your charm.' _

The car itself was a two seater, but it lacked individual seats, in exchange for a bench like seat with one lap bar to hold them in. Takagi got in first, and Nishikata got in right next to her before they pulled the lap bar down. "You ready?" She asked.

"Yeah, this one's new, right?"

"Yeah." She slid right up next to him, causing him to blush. "It's my first time on it, so I'm a little excited."

"So am I."

They sat there, waiting for everyone else to get in and for the line operator to give the final instructions. "Now remember to keep your hands, arms, feet, and legs inside the ride at all times. Also, no standing." He flipped a switch and the ride started moving.

_'Here we go.'_

It started with an incline, slowly making its way to the top of a hill. "This is going awfully high." Nishikata said as he looked over the edge to see most of the park.

"Yeah." Takagi said nervously.

The ride began to peek over the top of the hill before plummeting downwards. Nishikata felt like he was being sucked out of his seat as he attempted to hold on for dear life. It then quickly banked a turn to the right, causing Nishikata and Takagi to be squeezed to the left side of the car. _'S-she's so close.' _The ride continued to bank and turn as its occupants screamed in excitement, finally ending with a small cyclone.

After it finished, the ride slowed down as it reentered the station. "That was fun." Takagi said as she smiled at Nishikata.

"You could say that." Nishikata said as he tried to calm his blush.

As soon as the car came to a stop and the restraining bar lifted, they got out of the car and scanned their photo pass before leaving the station and reentering the park. "So what's next?"

"Hm." She looked around for a bit. "Well, let's do something with a short line before doing another thing with a long line."

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea." He looked around. "So, did you have anything in mind?"

"Let's see." They began wandering until Takagi saw a building with mirrors on the front.

"The mirror maze?" Nishikata asked.

"Yeah, it'll be fun. Not to mention, we could make it into a contest."

Nishikata's ears perked up upon hearing that word. "Contest you say?"

"Yup, I go in first, then after one minute, you follow in. First to catch the other is the winner."

Nishikata smiled. "Sounds fun, I'm in."

"Great, then let's go."

There was no line for the mirror maze, and they were able to get in much faster than before. "Now remember, you have to wait one minute." Takagi said as she stood at the entrance.

"I remember." Nishikata replied.

Takagi rushed into the mirror maze as Nishikata set a timer on his phone for one minute. _'Takagi probably thinks I'm at a disadvantage because I wouldn't be able to-' _He froze. _'Wait, she knows that I would be able to grab her ... maybe ... is she better at mirror mazes?' _He shook his head and refocused himself. _'No, it doesn't matter, I'm going to catch her and win!'_

As soon as the minute was up, he rushed inside and began looking around; it was a literal maze, arranged in straight lines with windows and mirrors everywhere. _'Now where are you?'_

He made his way deeper into the maze. "I know you're here somewhere." He stopped suddenly as he saw her out of the corner of his eye; she was right next to him, yet it somehow looked like she didn't notice him yet. _'It can't be.' _He reached out and his hand came into contact with a glass surface before reaching her. _'Must be a one-way mirror, but that just means that I need to find a way around it.' _He began moving again, keeping track of his steps and direction to try and keep track of where he was going. "Now if I'm right, then she should have been-" He stopped as he noticed another glass wall, blocking his path to where she should be. "That's not ... where is-" He noticed her again out of the corner of his eye, only this time she was looking directly at him. "Takagi!" He ran at her but collided with another wall and recoiled a little as he held his forehead in pain.

When he opened his eyes, he saw her laughing as she pulled a notepad and pen out of her carrying bag. "What are you doing?" Nishikata asked as she began writing on it.

She held up the notepad which only read 'this is fun' before turning and running away. "It's not over yet." He retraced his steps and soon found her once again, staring at him with the biggest smile on her face as she wrote something down again before showing it to him. 'Do you need a hand?'

"No, I don't need a hand!" Nishikata retorted. Takagi put her hand up to her ear and Nishikata rolled his eyes before shaking his head. _'She can't hear me, but if I remember correctly, I was just there, how did she get around me?'_

He headed back only to find that she was once again, missing from where she was supposed to be. "What is going on?" He looked around some more until, once again, he saw her on the other side of a glass panel. "How is she so fast?" She wrote down something else and showed it to him. 'If I win, I get anything I want, right?' Nishikata reluctantly nodded and Takagi smiled as she wrote something else down. 'Great, then I'll win this quickly.' She ran off to the side, but instantly disappeared even though there was another glass frame right next to it. "Oh, it's not over yet!" He exclaimed. He turned to his side, but he was immediately ambushed by Takagi, jumping at him and throwing her arms around the back of his neck.

Her face was extremely close to his now, and their bodies were right up against each other, causing his heart to speed up. "Aww." She said as she frowned. "We tied." Nishikata was confused at first, until he realized that he had reflexively wrapped his arms around her waist. "Guess I shouldn't have waited for you to turn around."

"Y-yeah, probably."

"You know," Takagi began as she adjusted her hands so her elbows were now on his shoulders. "It's just us in here."

"Huh?" Nishikata didn't notice it at first, but there was really no one else in there with them, nor was there anyone outside in the line. "Why is no one here? This park is packed."

"Maybe they're at the other mirror maze."

"What other mirror maze?"

"Well this is the old one, they built a new one not too long ago that's much bigger. The problem is the lines longer so ... that's why I wanted to come here."

"Oh, is that so?" Nishikata said as he looked away nervously.

"You know, no one would ever find out what happened in here unless one of us told them." Takagi said as her face drifted closer to his.

_'No one would know.' _He thought to himself. _'I ... I could ... my plan ...' _His mind didn't seem to be working properly, as his face also began to slowly drift closer to hers, pressing their foreheads against each other. "So ... what would they not know?"

"I have no idea." She bit down on her lower lip as both of them closed their eyes. _'It's happening, it's happening, don't tease him!'_

Their lips drew closer and closer, but before they touched, something interrupted them.

"Takagi? Nishikata? Is that you?"


	13. Break time

**Lets just cut right to the reviews, I have things that need working on.**

**Ycmanaog: People should know by now, I love making cliffhangers.**

**Lightgiver: Always**

* * *

Both Nishikata and Takagi separated before anyone could see them and stood a good few feet away from each other as they heard someone approach. "Guys?" Nakai said as he and Mano rounded the corner. "I didn't expect to see you two here."

"And we didn't expect to see you either." Nishikata replied.

Mano studied Takagi, then Nishikata. "Um, are we interrupting something?"

Takagi glanced at Nishikata and then shook her head.

"Well now that we've run into each other, why don't we get something to eat?"

'_What do I say? I can't confess to Takagi if Mano and Nakai are with us! Then again, based on what happened, it might be best if we stick together for a little while, so I don't accidentally confess early.' _"I … wouldn't mind getting something to eat together." He said nervously.

Takagi glanced at Nishikata for a moment before looking back to Nakai. "Yeah, sounds like fun."

"Great, now all we have to do, is find our way out of here."

"Oh, that's easy." Takagi began. "I've already figured out the trick here, just follow me."

The group began following Takagi as Nishikata sighed. '_Because of course, she's amazing everything.'_

They soon reached the end and Nakai blocked the sun with his hand. "Man, I didn't think we'd actually get out of there."

"We weren't in there that long." Mano said.

"Yeah, maybe, but it made me extra hungry, let's get something to eat." He turned to Nishikata and Takagi. "You guys want to get funnel cake? I haven't tried it, but I've heard good things about it."

"I've had it once, and I liked it." Takagi replied.

"Then I'll try it as well." Nishikata added.

"All right then, let's go."

The group made their way over to a nearby area where they found it packed with long lines. "Maybe we should split up." Nakai suggested.

"Yeah." Takagi added. "Mano, how about you and I find some seats, while the boys wait in line."

"Uh … okay."

"Alright, we'll see you two later then." Nakai and Nishikata made their way to one of the lines and began their wait, as Takagi and Mano began looking for a table.

"You know, I'm actually really glad we ran into you two." Nakai said as he and Nishikata waited in line. "Believe it or not, this was supposed to be a date, and I'm really dropping the ball on it."

"Yeah? How's that?." Nishikata asked.

"I don't know, Mano's just been looking so glum recently, and I have no idea how to make her feel better."

'_She must really be upset if even you noticed it.' _"So then why did you invite us to hang with you?"

"So I have an excuse for things to not be very date like, that way she won't realize how much I'm dropping the ball."

"That seems like it would have the exact opposite effect that you want it to."

"I know, and the last thing I want is for her to break up with me."

"Huh? Why do you think she's going to break up with you?"

"Because she's barely said anything to me for the past two days."

"Past two … days?" '_Why do I have the feeling that this has something to do with Takagi and I kissing?'_

"Yeah, I tried asking her, but she just said she can't talk about it."

"Uh huh." '_This definitely has something to do with the kiss.'_

"I just don't know what to do, it's driving me crazy, and my relationship with Mano has never driven me crazy like this before, which is driving me even crazier."

"Nakai, I don't want to be rude, may I ask something personal?"

"Go on." Nakai said with a reluctant sigh.

"When was ... the last time you and Mano ... kissed?"

"Huh?" Nakai said as he almost looked guilty of something. "Why do you ask that?"

"A hunch."

Nakai sighed. "I … have actually never kissed her."

'_Yeah, that would explain it.' _"Well, maybe that's part of the problem, you just need to remind her that you love her."

"Yeah …" Nakai said as he scratched the back of his head. "That's … going to be a problem."

Nishikata slowly turned to him and glared. "Why is it going to be a problem to tell your girlfriend that you love her?"

"Well … I … haven't actually told her that I-"

"Don't finish that sentence." Nishikata interrupted. "I think that might possibly be why she's upset."

"Yeah, but how do I fix that?"

"Tell her that you love her."

"I wish it was that simple, but a romantic moment isn't going to just appear."

Meanwhile, Takagi and Mano managed to find a table and were having a similar conversation. "I wonder what they're talking about." Mano said.

"Well, Nishikata's probably thanking Nakai for arriving when he did, saving Nishikata some embarrassment." She began to rub her arm.

"What happened?"

"Well." She gave a slightly guilty smile. "We … almost kissed."

"You … almost kissed?" Mano asked in disbelief. "Again?"

"Yeah." Takagi blushed as she continued. "He- wait!" Takagi turned to Mano. "I'm sorry, you and Nakai-"

"No." Mano interrupted. "I want to know."

Takagi nodded. "He … had his arms wrapped around me, our foreheads were touching, my heart was racing, and it felt like there was no one else in the world." She paused and opened her eyes. "Until there was."

"Yeah … I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize, there's no way you could have known. And besides, Nishikata said that he wanted to hang out with you guys, so he must have not been ready for it."

"Still, you guys could have had such a romantic moment, and it was ruined because of me."

"Hey, there will be other chances, we're still young."

"Well, I might have an idea."

"Hm?"

"They say that if you and someone you like are alone on the ferris wheel, and kiss while it's at its apex, then you'll be together forever."

Takagi looked at Mano surprised and a little in shock. "That … would be nice." Her smile softened and she shook her head. "But … you should take advantage of that with Nakai."

"But Takagi-"

"If Nishikata found out, then he wouldn't go anywhere near the ferris wheel with me. Not to mention, I can't lie to him."

"Takagi."


	14. The impossible game

**So no reviews today, so it's just me. I also don't have much to say so ... enjoy ... I guess ...**

* * *

Nishikata and Nakai had returned to Takagi and Mano with two plates of funnel cake. '_Should we separate from them after eating? Or after a ride or two? I still need to get Takagi alone, so I can confess to her.' _The two of them sat down on opposite sides of the table.

"Sorry." Nakai said as he sat next to Mano. "We could only get one per person, too many people."

"That's fine." Mano said as she took a piece of funnel cake. "So, I didn't expect to run into you two today, what brings you here?"

"That's … kinda hard to explain." Nishikata began as he started tapping the table. '_I can't tell them that I came here to confess to Takagi. Even if she already knows, that would just make the actual confession strange and awkward.' _"You see … the thing is …"

"We more or less wanted to spend Christmas Eve together." Takagi finished.

Mano and Nakai stared at the two of them surprised. "So are you two … going out?" Nakai asked.

"No, we're still just friends." Takagi said as she accidentally placed her hand on top of Nishikatas.

There was an awkward silence as they both stared at their hands before they both moved their hand away. "Yeah." Nishikata added.

Both Mano and Nakai looked at the two, unconvinced of their claim. "Yeah, sure." They both say.

'_Damn it, I need to change the subject and fast.' _Nishikata thought as he took another piece of funnel cake. '_But how am I … I GOT IT!' _"Hey, Mano, Nakai, how about after we eat, we all have a little friendly competition?"

They all looked at him a little surprised and curious.

"It's simple really, there are some fun carnival games here, so we have a friendly two out of three."

"Two out of three?" Nakai began. "With four people?"

"I get it." Takagi began. "You mean teams of two, don't you?"

'_I'd say she was reading my mind but I did make that one obvious.' _Nishikata thought to himself. "That's it exactly, now here's what I was thinking."

"Hold on." Takagi interrupted. "I know what you want the teams to be, but I may have a better idea."

"A better idea?"

"Yeah, how about, you and me, verses Nakai and Mano?"

'_But that was what I was going to suggest anyway.' _Takagi gave him a knowing smile and Nishikata realized what she was getting at. "I … don't see why not." He turned away pretending to be embarrassed.

"Great, I can't wait to start."

The group continued eating for a bit until they finished, and began making their way to where the carnival games were. "Okay, so for the first one, we'll flip a coin to decide who decides which one, then it's whoever loses."

"Okay, and what's the winner get?" Nakai asked.

"All prizes won." Nishikata finished with a smile.

"Okay, flip the coin."

Nishikata pulled a coin out of his pocket and looked to Nakai and Mano. "Heads or tails?"

"Heads." Nakai replied.

"Okay." Nishikata flipped the coin into the air and caught it as soon as it came back down. "And let's see." He opened his hand, revealing that it was heads. "Looks like you two pick."

"Alright." Nakai and Mano walked ahead while Takagi placed a hand on Nishikata's shoulder and compelled them stay back.

"I know you're planning something, you didn't even try to hide it."

"Yeah, um, how about we let them win."

"Let them win?" Takagi asked as she raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, they seem like their not having a great day so … just to give them a little confidence boost."

"Huh? Did Nakai say something?"

"He said that Mano hasn't spoken to him much for the past few days, and I'm fairly sure that's at least partially my fault."

"You mean our fault?"

"I'm the reason Mano can't talk about it, right?"

"Even if she could, I doubt it would help much. But aside from that, it's good that Nakai also noticed something was up, that makes it easier to fix things."

"Yeah, that's why I came up with this idea."

"Oh?" She leaned closer and gave a sly smile. "So you're telling me that you were going to partner with me from the beginning?"

Nishikata blushed again and turned away. "Well … yeah, I would need to, wouldn't I?"

"Yeah, I suppose." She grabbed his hand and turned around. "Now come on, let's not keep them waiting."

"Yeah." '_The sooner we help them out, the sooner we get back to spending time alone.' _He glanced up at the sky that was still blue. '_And it's not night yet, so I can't confess yet.' _He looked over to the Ferris wheel as his heart rate picked up again. '_At the top of that, that's where I will tell her.'_

They caught up to Mano and Nakai, who had been waiting for them for quite some time. "You two ready? Because I think we've picked out the perfect starter game."

"What is it?"

"A test your strength game." Nakai said as he motioned to a stand that had a seesaw and bell tower. "I was thinking, you and I do the first, Takagi and Mano will do the second, and if there's a third, we do something we can all compete in."

"If you insist." Nishikata said as he walked towards it. "Also, you do know that I'm one of the strongest kids in school, right?"

"I feel lucky." Nakai said as Mano looked at him concerned.

Nishikata sighed and shook his head. '_Now, how am I going to lose this without making it look suspicious?'_

Nakai walked up to the stall and paid the stall attendant as he was handed a mallet. "Here goes nothing." He raised the mallet into the air and brought it down onto the target, sending the piston flying up the rail, falling just short of hitting the bell.

"So it looks like all I have to do is hit the bell and I win, right?" Nishikata asked as he Nakai was handed a small stuffed bear.

"I thought I had that one." Nakai said as he walked back.

"Well looks like I'm up." Nishikata walked up and paid the stall attendant before being handed a mallet. '_If I hit it with all I have, then there's no way I'll lose to Nakai, but if I hit it too softly, then they'll think I threw it on purpose.' _He lifted the mallet into the air. '_What do I do?' _He brought the mallet down, but in his daze, he hit the side of the target, causing the piston to fly up half the distance of the pole. "WHAT?!" Nishikata asked as he looked at the attraction in disbelief.

"You have to hit it dead center." The stall attendant said. "Want to try again?"

Nishikata shook his head. "No, I think I'll pass." He was handed a much smaller stuffed bear, and walked back to the others.

"I was off center, otherwise I would have won."

"But you didn't." Nakai replied. "Which means we win round one."

"Yeah, yeah." Nishikata said as he turned away. "So what should we pick for round two?"

"I think we'll pick darts as our second game." Takagi said with a smile.

"I'm great at darts!" Mano exclaimed. "You'll regret that decision!"

They began making their way to the stall where the dart game was as Takagi hung back to talk with Nishikata. "It's best if we go to the last round, right?" She asked.

"Yeah, make it closer, they will be more excited."

"Then maybe I shouldn't have picked darts." She smiled as Nishikata stared at her in disbelief.

"Wait, are you saying that you're bad at darts?"

Takagi didn't answer and simply strode ahead to the stand where the dart game was. "So, shall we begin?" Takagi asked as she paid the stall attendant.

Mano was more concerned as she nervously paid the stall attendant. "I-I am ready."

Both of them were handed five darts, and they began aiming as Nishikata and Nakai watched. "Hey, what happens if one of the games is a tie?" Nakai asked.

"That didn't occur to me." Nishikata replied.

Mano was the first to throw a dart, popping a balloon as it did. "I'm off to a good start." She said as Takagi threw a dart which popped one of the outside balloons. "HUH?!"

'_I thought she said she wasn't any good at this.'_

Mano threw another, which missed, and Takagi also threw another, which popped another balloon. "How … no." Mano looked away from Takagi and back at the board. "I can still win this." She threw another dart which managed to pierce a balloon, making her feel triumphant. "There, now I just need to-" She was interrupted by the sound of another popping balloon.

"Wow, three balloons, that's my best score yet."

Mano looked at the board again, with intense focus as she readied herself. "It's not over yet." She threw a dart, but it missed, bouncing off the back and clattering to the floor. "I … I …I can still tie this." She threw her last dart, but it failed to pop any balloons. "I … lost."

"Don't be like that." Takagi said as she threw another dart which didn't pop a balloon. "And here we go." She picked up her last dart and threw it, also bouncing off the backboard. "Only three."

"Yeah, yeah." Mano said as she was handed a stuffed narwhal.

"Don't be upset, everyone has bad days." Takagi said as she was handed a stuffed bear that was much larger than the one Nakai was given.

"Uh, can I have a word with you?" Nishikata asked as he took Takagi aside. "You said you weren't that good at darts."

"Yeah, I usually get only one or two balloons with five darts."

"Takagi … these games are rigged, the balloons are underinflated and the darts are dulled, getting one or two is a lot."

"Oh? How did you know that?"

He glanced to the side embarrassed. "I … looked up things like this to try and use against you in our contests."

"Oh?" She smiled at him flirtatiously. "So you were going to challenge me today?"

"I would think that was obvious, but ... plans changed slightly."

"You mean seeing as Mano and Nakai are now with us?"

Nishikata nodded. "I had a few things planned which are now taking a back seat."

Takagi's eyes went wide. "You had plans for just us?"

"Huh? I mean … yeah, I invited you, remember?"

Takagi stood there for a moment before a soft smile formed on her face. "You know, after this, it'll probably be just us again." Nishikata's face went red as Takagi got closer. "Then we can get back to where we were before they interrupted."

Nishikata thought back to what they were doing when they bumped into Mano and Nakai, and remembered that they were in the mirror maze, about to kiss. "Uh … you mean … back in the mirror maze?"

"Oh, that? We could simply do that right now if you want."

Nishikata's face went even redder before remembering what he was supposed to be doing. "Mano and Nakai." He said causing Takagi to also remember.

"Oh, right." She quickly turned around as a look of concern appeared on her face. "Right, right, right, we're still competing with them."

"No … that?" Nishikata asked as he alternated pointing between them.

"Oh ... yeah, we have to help them first."

They quickly ran to catch up with Mano and Nakai, who were standing at a booth that had a lot of soda bottles lined up in a sort of grid. "What took you guys so long?" Nakai asked.

"Nothing." Takagi replied. "So, is this our last game?"

Nakai gave a thumbs up. "You bet, this is the ring toss."

"The ring toss?" Takagi asked as she looked at the bottles.

"Oh no." Nishikata said as he walked up to it. "This … isn't going to be easy."

"How so?"

The stall attendant walked up to them and held up a very small ring. "You guys interested? Objective is to get one of these rings onto one of the soda bottles."

Takagi took a closer look at the ring. "Can that even fit on the soda bottle?"

Nishikata pointed upwards and Takagi couldn't believe her eyes, the prizes were gigantic, some even bigger than they were. "I see, so this is supposed to be difficult."

"You could toss twenty buckets of these rings and not win once." Nishikata said as he paid the stall attendant.

"You could toss a hundred buckets and still not win." Nakai added as he also paid the stall attendant. "Each team gets one bucket, whoever gets a ring on a bottle wins."

"And in the likely event that neither of us win?"

"Then we call it a draw."

"Okay."

Both Nakai and Nishikata were given a single bucket and each of them picked up their first ring. '_Losing this isn't going to be a problem, the problem is getting Nakai and Mano to win.' _He threw his first ring and it bounced off a bottle and fell to the floor.

"Okay, my turn." Takagi said as she tried to throw a ring, only to get the same result.

Each team continued throwing rings one at a time, until both of them were down to their last ring.

"It's your throw Nishikata." Takagi said as she watched.

"Well here goes nothing." He threw the ring like a frisbee, and looked over to Nakai and Mano. '_I guess if it's a tie, we can just let them have the prizes, I mean it's not like Takagi and I can carry them around with us when we're trying to-' _His thought process was interrupted by what appeared to be some sort of whirring sound, making him more and more nervous as he turned back to the soda bottles. '_Don't tell me.' _"I … can't believe it." There, in front of him, lay a single ring that had landed on one of the soda bottles. '_Oh … I messed up.'_

* * *

**Fun fact, when I was in junior high, my older brother actually won this game, on his last ring, and got this giant manta ray that was larger than both of us. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it.  
**


	15. Fun with loosing

**I used to have a lot to say about my stories in this intro part. No idea what happened, just ... I still enjoy writing though.**

**dapper64: Thanks**

* * *

Nishikata stared at the bottle in front of him with the ring that had landed on the neck. _'I need to do something, we're supposed to lose to them to make them feel better.' _He looked up at the monster prizes above him. _'Not to mention, I can't carry one of those around with me all day, especially into the Ferris wheel.'_

"Man, looks like we lose." Nakai said as he stared at the bottle. "Man, and here I thought this was unwinnable."

"You're not out of rings yet." Takagi replied. "Who knows, you might get lucky."

"It's not going to happen Takagi." Nishikata said as he continued staring at the bottle. "The odds are too far against them."

"You really think so?" Takagi smiled and placed a hand on the table. "It's not over till the last rings thrown."

"Well the odds are so far against him that it might as well be."

She turned to Nakai and smiled. "Give it a throw, see what happened."

"Um ... if you say so." He tossed his last ring like a frisbee and the group watched as it soared through the air. It was as if it was going in slow motion, as it bounced off the top of one of the bottles and continued sailing.

_'This is pointless.' _Nishikata thought to himself. _'I'm going to need to rethink my entire plan, worse, Nakai and Mano aren't going to be fixing their dilemma.' _Nishikata opened his eyes, but what he saw was something he couldn't believe. The ring had landed on the bottle neck, and had stopped moving.

"It looks like we have two winners back-to-back." The stall attendant said. "And here I thought I had seen everything."

"Wow." Nakai said as he stared at it in disbelief. "Then ... we tie."

"Nope." Nishikata quickly replied. "Getting one is very rare, but getting one, right after someone else got one, is something almost impossible." He turned to Nakai. "Near as I can tell, you guys win."

"I second that." Takagi added.

"Wait, really?" Mano asked. "We beat you?"

"This time." Takagi said as she handed Mano her prize from the previous game. "But Nishikata and I are definitely going to win next time."

"Well we look forward to it!" Mano exclaimed.

The stall attendant came back holding two giant stuffed animals in the shame of a lion and an elephant as Nishikata and Takagi pointed to Nakai and Mano.

"Ah." Nakai said, having just realized what had actually happened. "So this is why you let us win."

The stall attendant handed Mano and Nakai the prizes as the began to fall off balance, trying to hold onto them. "Hey, Mano, you want me to hold that?" Nakai asked.

"You couldn't even if you tried." She replied.

"Ha, yeah, that's true." He turned back to Takagi and Nishikata. "Thanks again, this was fun."

"I actually would like to sit down for a bit." Mano added. "Then ... maybe we should head home."

Nakai looked at the monstrous stuffed animal in his hands. "Yeah, that might be a good idea." He turned back to Nishikata and Takagi. "We'll see you guys later."

"Wait." Nishikata began as he held up the small stuffed bear he won from the first challenge. "You guys still get-"

"Keep it." Nakai interrupted as he and Mano began walking away. "We can barely carry what we have."

"Well ... okay." He handed it to Takagi. "Here, you can have this, I'm not into stuffed animals."

Takagi held back a laugh as she looked at it. "Is this supposed to be a romantic Christmas present or something?"

"Huh? No, that's not till-" He stopped himself as he turned slightly to the side. "This ... is ... not ... that."

"Hm?" She looked at the little bear, then back to Nishikata. "Okay, if you say so." She took the stuffed bear and hugged it. "It's so soft."

"Yeah." He looked at her and began to lose himself. _'She looks so beautiful, and innocent ... damn, I hope she says yes.'_

"Oh, speaking of which, we're alone now."

Nishikata's face turned bright red. "Uh, yeah ... we are."

"So ... what do you want to do?"

"What do I want to do?" Nishikata began thinking to himself, but only one thing came to mind. "I want to make sure Nakai and Mano manage to patch things up."

"Same here actually." Takagi replied. "So, shall we spy on them?"

"You read my mind." Nishikata paused as an annoyed look appeared on his face. "Again."

She laughed and grabbed his hand. "Then let's go."

The two of them followed Nakai and Mano as they took a seat on a bench overlooking a small lake at the edge of the amusement park, and found a nice hiding spot near a vending machine where they could watch them. "Can you hear what they're saying?" Nishikat asked.

"If you're quiet, you can barely make it out."

They continued to watch in silence as the two placed all their prizes next to them. "Man, I can't believe I made that shot."

"Yeah, neither can I, but I also can't believe that Nishikata let us beat him. From what Takagi says, he's very competitive."

"True, but he will admit when he's lost."

"I guess so."

The two of them looked over the lake at the setting sun. "Those two are so lucky." Mano said as she looked down. "They get along so well."

"Huh? Don't compare us to them, every person is different, meaning every relationship is twice as different." He wrapped an arm around Mano and looked out to the lake. "But if you really want to compare us, then Nishikata hasn't even told Takagi that he loves her yet."

Nishikata's face turned red as Takagi looked at him and let out a small laugh. "I never said that to him." He whispered.

"Well ... thing is ..." Mano turned away as Nakai looked at her concerned.

"Oh, that's right." He leaned closer and whispered something in her ear. They couldn't hear what he said, but based on how red Mano's face turned, it was obvious what it was.

Nishikata nudged Takagi as they stood there. "I think we should get going now."

"But this is the best part." Nakai and Mano leaned closer and pressed their lips against each other. "Those two are the lucky ones." Takagi said as she gave a soft smile.

"We should definitely go now." Nishikata stated.

"Yeah, we've done what we needed to."

They quietly made their exit, being careful to not alert Mano and Nakai. "So, shall we get back to where we were?"

"Uh-" Nishikata's face turned bright red.

"And by that I mean, rides, there's still plenty of day left."

"Oh, right, yeah, let's get back to that."


	16. Around and around

**So how's about a new chapter? I know it's a day late, and it was already posted on Wattpad the other day, but it's here now, and there are only two more chapters after this one. Now I need to handle the reviews so I'll talk to you later.**

**Ycmanaog: Well things are deffinitally going to turn out okay, I mean it's not like I'm one to … I don't know, make people suffer during my stories, HA HA!**

**Lightgiver: Well I liked writing it, yes, as in, past tense, the story was finished a while ago, I just have to review a lot of things in it.**

* * *

Nishikata and Takagi had gone on a few rides since they left Mano and Nakai, and had gotten their picture taken a few more times, and were now sitting on a bench, resting for a bit before deciding their next activity. _'This is going well.' _Nishikata thought to himself. _'Almost too well, is Takagi waiting for me to enact my plan, so she can tease me? No, if that were the case, then we wouldn't have almost kissed in the mirror maze.'_

"Man, todays been great so far." Takagi said catching Nishikata's attention. "Thanks again for inviting me."

"No problem." Nishikata began softly. "Thank you for agreeing to come with me."

"Well, I was happy to spend time with you." She said as she took his hand. "Speaking of time, there's not much left."

"Huh?"

"Look." She said as she looked towards the sky. "It's already dark, so we don't have much time left here."

"Oh, I hadn't noticed."

"We might need to head home soon, seeing as tomorrow is Christmas and all."

"Well, there's ... still something I wanted to do first." He said as he turned away.

"Oh yeah, those plans you mentioned."

Nishikata blushed as he tried to think of a cover. _'I can't just tell her that I want to go on the Ferris wheel, that'll be too obvious, I need to somehow convince her to go on it without actually saying it.' _"Well ... we still have some time so ... should we do something else first?"

"What did you have in mind?"

"Well ... how about ... you decide?" He said sounding more like a question than a request.

"Hm? Well we could always go back on one of the roller coasters."

"How about ... something a little ... calmer?" _'That would leave the Ferris wheel, merry-go-round, and observation tower, and maybe a few others, I just need to think of an excuse for when she-'_

"Well," She began as she smiled flirtatiously. "We could always try the Ferris wheel, it's nice and quiet." She placed a finger on her chin and looked up. "Oh, but I know how embarrassed you get when you and I are isolated, and you can't get more secluded than that."

"What are you talking about?" Nishikata began nervously. "I don't get embarrassed when it's just us. I've been alone with you plenty of times and not been embarrassed."

"Oh? Then let's go." She grabbed his hand and the two of them began making their way over to the Ferris wheel as Nishikata's heart went into overdrive.

_'This is it.' _He thought to himself. _'This is where I finally confess.'_

The walk to the Ferris wheel felt like an eternity, all the while Nishikata had to stop himself from staring at the girl walking beside him. _'You can do this Nishikata, you can totally do this, she probably already likes you, and knows that you like her, this is just making things official ... right?'_

"Nishikata?" Takagi said, snapping him back to reality. "We're here."

Nishikata gazed up at the giant attraction in front of him as he became more and more nervous. "S-so we are." The two of them walked up to the line, which was actually very short, yet the wait felt like an eternity. _'Man, my heart's beating so fast, I think I'm going to have a heart attack.' _As the line reached its end, Nishikata took a moment to ready himself one final time. _'Okay, so this thing moves quick, I'm going to have to start as soon as we get on, and I should be able to kiss her at the top by the second rotation.'_

His nerves were in shambles as their turn to enter the car finally came. The door slowly opened, as if beckoning them forward as it moved slowly across the platform.

"Ready?" Takagi said as she nudged him forward.

They entered the car and sat next to each other, and as soon as the door closed, Nishikata felt his heart skip a beat. _'Here I go ... I said here I go! ... Why am I not doing anything!?'_

"Wow, your face is so red right now Nishikata." Takagi said, catching him off guard.

"Huh? Oh, that, well ... I ..." He reached into his pocket and took a deep breath. _'That was just what I needed.' _He pulled out the box and handed it to Takagi. "Merry Christmas." Takagi's face turned a slight shade of pink as she stared at the small box.

"I ..." She smiled and took the box from him. "Thank you." She slowly opened it, and as soon as she saw the heart shaped locket that was inside, she blushed. "You ... remembered ... wait, hold on, I thought they were sold out."

Nishikata nodded. "They were, I got this before that happened."

"Before you knew I wanted this one specifically?" He nodded again. "Then ..." She smiled and took it out of its box. "Would you do the honors then?"

He took the necklace and slowly slid it over her head. "You look amazing by the way."

"Thanks." A sly smile formed on her face. "You know, a present like this is normally something someone would get for their girlfriend."

Nishikata nodded. "I know."

Takagi's face became even redder. "I ... you ..." She smiled again. "You know, they say that if you and someone you like-"

"Kiss at the top of this Ferris wheel then you'll be together forever?"

Takagi's face went even redder, to a shade that Nishikata hadn't seen before. _'Here it goes, maybe I can get it in time for the first rotation!' _"Takagi, we've known each other for a very long time ... and I've only recently realized how much you mean to me." He took a deep breath and looked her straight in the eye. "What I'm trying to say is ... I'M IN LOVE WITH YOU TAKAGI! WILL YOU BE MY GIRLFRIEND?"

Everything seemed to go quiet as both Takagi's and Nishikata's face went bright red, the tension only being broken by a flash of light from something nearby. "Huh?" they both said as they looked around until they found a camera mounted to the top corner of the car.

"Wait." He looked out over the park and saw that they had passed the apex of the wheel. _'How did I not know that there was a camera on this?'_

Nishikata turned back to Takagi as she quickly broke out into a fit of laughter. "Wha? Takagi?"

"Did you plan this?" Takagi asked while still somewhat laughing.

"I ... yeah."

"To get me to blush and get a picture of it as proof?" She said as her expression turned slightly accusatory.

"What?! NO! I mean, yes, I mean, kinda. I wanted to get you to blush, but what I really wanted ..." He looked down and sighed. "I wanted to tell you ... all that you mean to me. Sure, you tease me all the time, sure, you also manage to turn every one of my plans around on me and embarrass me, but ... I would never trade any of that, I like being with you and ... I want to be with you more."

"Even if that means being with me forever?"

"Huh?"

She pointed up revealing that they were almost at the apex again. "If we go through with this, I'm only going to be teasing you more, you're aware of that, right?"

He nodded. "And I'm not going to stop trying to get back at you."

"You're still never going to win."

"I don't know, I think I did rather well today."

She smiled as she placed her hands on his shoulders. "Hmm, I guess you have a point there." She pressed her lips against his for a brief moment, just as another flash of light took their picture again. "But to answer your question, I would love to." She swung her legs around, so she was now sitting on his lap as he wrapped his arms around her back to support her. "This was definitely worth the wait."


	17. Together

**So here is the second to last chapter, and let me start by thanking everyone who reviewed for reviewing, it really made my day. Kinda made me want to write more actually, but that aside. I need to get this chapter posted, so let's tackle the reviews.**

**jc238687: Wait, really? You think it's the best? I mean I don't think I'm that great, but thanks.**

**Lightgiver: Well, I could have ended it there, but at the time, there was an idea that was floating around in my head that didn't fit into my next story … or the one after that … but it did fit into this one, so I put it in.**

**Ycmanaog: Thanks, I try to keep a consistent update schedule, which _shouldn't _be hard because youtubers manage to upload an entire video a day and this is just text. Though, I'm not getting payed for this, so I guess that gives me an excuse.**

**dapper64: Thanks, I'm glad that you enjoyed it.**

**G-Matt: One of his very few wins, but now karma must balance itself out … soon**

* * *

Takagi and Nishikata got off the Ferris wheel while not even trying to hide the fact that they were holding hands. "That was definitely an amazing experience." Takagi said as she glanced at Nishikata.

"Yeah." Nishikata said reluctantly. "I-it was."

She paused for a moment, then began leading him off the side where the picture monitors were. "Don't forget to save those three pictures, I know my mom would throw a fit if she found out that we passed on something like that."

"As would mine." Nishikata said as he scanned the photo card.

As they left the area, Takagi stopped causing Nishikata to also stop and wonder what had just happened. "Huh? Something up?"

Takagi pointed out at Hamaguchi and Houjou who were about to get on the line.

"Takagi?" Houjou said as she caught sight of them. "And Nishikata?"

"Huh?" Hamaguchi turned and noticed the two. "Hey, didn't expect to see you two here."

"I think they're on a date." Takagi whispered.

"They've already said hi, so we don't have much choice." Nishikata replied.

They walked over to the two and greeted them. "So, what are you two doing here?" Hamaguchi asked. "Wait, are you guys on a date?"

"Well …" Takagi began as she scratched the back of her head.

"Oh, that's right." Nishikata continued. "We … haven't officially decided if this was a date or not, have we?"

"Yeah, I mean, I think I know what you would say, but seeing as you haven't said it yet-"

"Yeah, we're on a date." Nishikata finished.

"Oh." Hamaguchi's face went red as Houjou smiled. "So does that mean you two are together now?"

"Yup!" Takagi exclaimed as she hugged Nishikata's arm and pulled herself closer to him. "Three minutes, thirty eight seconds and counting!"

Houjou's face went red. "Wait … so … you two were-" She looked at the Ferris wheel and her face went even redder. "Oh, so …"

"Oh, Nishikata, did those pictures get sent to us yet?"

"I didn't check." He pulled out his phone and looked at his email. "Wow, they have, that was fast."

He pulled up the first one and showed them the picture of Takagi blushing. "It only makes three rotations, so you only get three pictures." He brought up the second that showed the two of them kissing and both Hamaguchi and Houjou's faces turned red. "Then again, you do still get more than one photo, so there's that." He brought up the last one that was of he and Takagi cuddling. "It was definitely a good time."

"You don't say." Hamaguchi said as he nervously looked at Nishikata's phone.

"Anyway, we should get going." Takagi said before waving to them. "Good luck!"

The two of them walked away, leaving a very embarrassed Hamaguchi and Houjou behind.

"I'm surprised." Takagi began. "Usually you're embarrassed about topics involving romance."

"Who said I wasn't embarrassed?" Nishikata asked as he scratched the back of his head with a red tint on his face. "But honestly, I wanted to show off the fact that I had the most adorable person in the entire school as my girlfriend."

Takagi smiled. "The same trick isn't going to work twice in such quick succession."

"What are you talking about?" Nishikata asked. "I'm simply telling the truth!" Takagi stared at him with a sly grin as Nishikata's face became redder and redder. "I …"

Takagi burst into laughter as Nishikata turned away. "You always do make the best reactions Nishikata." Her expression softened and turned more affectionate. "That's one of the many reasons why I love you."

Nishikata blushed as his mind began to race. '_How do I respond? What do I do?!' _Instinctively, he stopped walking and placed his hands on Takagi's shoulder. "Takagi?" Nishikata began.

"Hm?"

He pulled her in for a deep, yet brief kiss. As soon as they separated, Takagi had a shocked, and confused expression on her face. '_Was that not the right response? Did I do something wrong? What was I supposed to do? What am I supposed to do?'_

"Stop." Takagi said as she placed a finger on his head. "You are thinking WAY too much right now."

"Huh? How did you-"

"Because it's obvious to me, I've always been able to tell what you're thinking because I know you so well."

"And you're a genius."

"I wouldn't say that I'm a genius." Takagi said as she closed her eyes and smiled. "Now come on, let's go home."


	18. Payback

**And so brings the final chapter, now I must think of a cover page for my next one ... and I need to think of ideas ...but now for the reviews.**

**dapper64: Dapper, my friend, let me tell you something, writers love seeing reviews for their stories, so never apologize for leaving a review.**

* * *

Takagi and Nishikata were on their way back to Takagi's house, with Nishikata feeling more than a little triumphant. '_I've managed the impossible, not only did I manage to get Takagi to blush, but I also managed to confess at the same time. Maybe things are finally turning around.' _He glanced over at Takagi, who looked just as happy as he did. '_Sure, it's probably not bothering her, but that doesn't matter, the more important thing is that I actually managed to get together with her.'_

"You feeling proud?" Takagi asked.

"Proud?"

"That you managed to tease me, even if only a little."

"Oh, that. Well … I'm glad that I finally managed it, but the real win was …" He glanced down at her hand, which was firmly grasped in his. "When you said yes."

"Oh? So if you had to pick between becoming my boyfriend or embarrassing me?"

"I'd definitely pick becoming your boyfriend a hundred times over."

She gave him a somewhat accusatory expression. "Yet you still held off on that to try and get an opportunity to tease me at the same time."

"Well, I figured … I try to tease you all the time, it would be fitting if I confessed while doing the same. In the end, what really mattered was telling you how I felt, not whether you got embarrassed or not."

She gave him a soft smile. "I know, but since you did tease me, I'm still going to have to get back at you."

Nishikata was filled with a sense of dread. "W-what do you mean by that?"

"Well, if I told you then it would ruin the point, now would it?"

Nishikata sighed and nodded. "You know … I don't know what you have planned … but I'm going to say this now, it was still worth it, and nothing you do is going to change my mind."

"I know."

They continued their way to Takagi's house and were standing in front of the door. "So … until next time?"

"One more thing?" She asked before wrapping her arms around the back of his neck.

"Okay." He said as he wrapped his arms around the small of her back.

They slowly pressed their lips together, before Takagi began to put her weight on him more and more, causing him to lean back some. At first, Nishikata didn't think much of it, but before long, she began to squeeze him tighter and tighter as she tried to kiss him more passionately. '_She's being awfully forceful.' _Nishikata thought to himself. '_I guess she's really been holding this in a long time.'_

He felt Takagi's lips move, as if smirking, and as soon as he heard what sounded like someone clearing their throat, all the color drained from his face. Both he and Takagi slowly opened their eyes, and Nishikata quickly noticed that the front door to Takagi's house was now open, and standing in the doorway was a woman that looked like Takagi, only much older.

Takagi smiled sheepishly as she hid her mouth behind her arms. "H-hi mommy."

'_M-mommy?!' _Nishikata thought to himself. '_I am so dead.'_

"So." The woman began. "I take it that this is Nishikata?"

"Nice to meet you, ma'am." Nishikata said as his voice cracked.

They were frozen there for a few seconds before Takagi slowly let go of Nishikata and began moving into her house. "I'll see you around." She said before disappearing into her house, leaving Nishikata alone.

'_I'm so dead, I'm so dead, I'm so dead.' _He thought to himself as he looked at the woman who didn't look too pleased with him. '_What do I do? I need to say something, I can't keep standing here!' _"Um … hi?"

The woman continued to stare at him intently for a moment before slowly bursting into laughter. "Oh my goodness, you're exactly as she said you would be."

"I am?" Nishikata asked, feeling like he had just fallen for another trick.

"Pretty much." She stopped laughing and took a deep breath. "However." She gave a smile that contradicted an intense menacing aura that she was giving off. "You're going to take care of my daughter and not do anything you might … regret, right?"

Nishikata nodded nervously. "Right."

"Well, that's good." She slowly closed the door, stopping only to peek out. "It was nice to formally meet you."

She closed the door, leaving a trembling Nishikata. "Oh … yeah ... that ... was nerve wracking." He placed a hand on his chest and let out a sigh. "And I've really stepped into a whole new world of teasing."

He began walking back to his house as he gazed up at the starry sky. "But man … it's still worth it."


End file.
